Abortion Compromise

Positive Pro-Life Prospects for 2015

on January 8, 2015

According to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute, states across the country have enacted 231 restrictions on abortion over just the past four years. In 2014 alone, 335 pieces of pro-life legislation were introduced in state legislatures and 15 states enacted 26 laws restricting abortion. In contrast, only 95 measures intended to protect abortion access were introduced to state legislatures and a mere four became law last year. Guttmacher explained this made “more positive measures than in any year since 1990,” although they were largely symbolic.

Laws adopted over the past four years include restricting access by gestational age, banning sex-selective abortions, required counseling and waiting periods, requiring clinics to have hospital admitting privileges, stricter clinic regulations, and limiting access for minors. Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action, said in a statement: “This report shows that the right to safe and legal abortion exists in name only for far too many women in America today, particularly low-income women who are hurt most by these restrictions that require people to drive hundreds of miles and make multiple trips for no medical reason.” She further expressed concern that 2015 “will surely be another tough year for women’s health.”

She is right to suspect 2015 will be another important year for protecting the unborn as Republicans won control of the legislature and governorship in 23 states in the midterm elections. The far left website Mother Jones reports with fear and trembling that states such as Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, among others, are already planning to consider various measures including gestational age limits, banning telemedicine abortions, requiring ultrasounds, and many other ways to protect new life.

Although some claim restrictive abortion laws do not, in fact, reduce the abortion rate, a recent peer reviewed study shows that they do. Reducing public funding for abortion brings the rate down by 10 to 15 percent depending on the state. Parental consent laws reduce abortions by around 15 to 20 percent, and even laws requiring in-person counseling decrease the number by seven to 12 percent.

The abortion rate reached an all-time low in 2011, with only 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women age 15 – 44, compared with the high of 29.3 per 1,000 in 1981. The causes of this drop are difficult to know precisely, but likely range from legal restrictions to cultural and public opinion shifts. Although any number of abortions is too many, these trends are encouraging for all those who have been praying and working to protect the sanctity of life.

In just two weeks, tens of thousands of mostly young people will gather in Washington, D.C. for the 42nd annual March for Life. This yearly gathering on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade  decision shows there is a hope for the future and that pro-abortion activists’ accusations that pro-life legislators are “out of touch” and retrograde simply aren’t true. Even though Millennials sometimes hesitate to label themselves either strictly “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” there is little momentum among the pro-abortion group to push for expanding abortion, but great fervor from those who do identify as pro-life.

Despite the admittedly historic Roe vs. Wade decision ushering in on-demand abortion across the US, our country’s record on abortion does not end there. The recent rush of pro-life legislation and the decreasing number of lives lost through abortion each year show that change is possible and it is happening before our eyes.

(Photo credit: Beechwood Photography, used under Creative Commons license).

  1. Comment by MarcoPolo on January 21, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    I’m grateful that I personally, don’t possess a womb.
    Otherwise, I’d think that I lived in a Theocracy like Iran or Saudi Arabia.

    Either way, I’m saddened for women who wish to seek an abortion, because some religious gang thinks it’s their business to restrict such legal options!

  2. Comment by John E on January 22, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    One of the stupidest comments I’ve ever read.

  3. Comment by MarcoPolo on January 22, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    JohnE,
    You’re entitled to your opinion, but you haven’t defended you position.
    Dare I ask you to explain?

  4. Comment by Kangaroo52 on January 22, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    Yes, we oppose killing. Isn’t that awful?

  5. Comment by MarcoPolo on January 22, 2015 at 11:02 pm

    I too oppose killing!
    But until the decision of “Personhood” is established, that term (killing) will be in flux.

    I pray you never need to choose to have an abortion. And I pray for those who must make that decision, that it remains a legal option for them.

    Their baby, ISN’T YOUR baby!

  6. Comment by Kangaroo52 on January 22, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    Progress is incremental. No doubt sonograms have played a big real in public opinion.

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