Abortion rate falls to lowest level since before Roe v. Wade

[Fantine]

This article debunks the theory that it's the conservative states leading the abortion decline because kids are heeding abstinence education.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/08/abo...pt_in_states_where_access_is_most_restricted/

I live in a red, red, red state (sigh...) The following is a true story about my daughter's co-worker who got pregnant and couldn't tell her evangelical parents or scare up $1000 for an abortion. The drama went on for weeks and weeks (her parents are neighbors of mine, and still don't know). I was sure that she'd decided not to have the abortion.

Instead, she had the abortion at 18 weeks!! "Where did she get the money?" I asked my daughter. I learned she got a grant from NARAL. Because she waited until 18 weeks, she had to drive three hours away and have a much more invasive procedure.

She also had a lot of people turning against her and bad mouthing her. She spent a whole night at my daughter's crying, and my daughter took her in because she needed some healing and compassion.

So congratulations, pro-lifers. These are the kind of nightmares you're promoting, and some of your fellow pro-lifers stand ready on the other side to pin a scarlet letter on women's chests.

 

[concretecamper]

For a compete look at the situation, 2 factors should be included in the analysis....California and the birth rate.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[pdudgeon]

The number and rate of abortions tallied by federal authorities have fallen to their lowest level in decades, according to new data released Wednesday.

Continued below.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-abortion-rate-falls-to-lowest-level-in-decades/

abortion rates are down because there are fewer babies being born and also fewer pregnancies overall. Which means that you can't abort a baby that isn't there in the first place.

and that's really what these figures mean.

The real problem is that we are nearing the tipping point in the population's ability to regenerate itself. and if the present trend continues, it puts the future existance of life on Earth in jeopardy within 2 more generations.
the number of availble females who can concieve will decrease as well as the number of fertile males in such numbers as to make finding someone to mate with difficult at best.

 

[Fantine]

The future existence of life on earth may be in jeopardy two generations from now anyway!

Look who you elected! Once our country pulls out of climate change agreements, encourages coal production again, removes regulations protecting our water and food supply and our lands, we might not have to worry about life on earth two generations from now...

And that doesn't even take into consideration the disastrous choice for Secretary of Defense (what did you say about him?
"boo-hoo-yah??") We need to work for peace through diplomacy with the cooperation of other nations (who are still trying to get over their shock at whom you elected).

 

[pdudgeon]

This article debunks the theory that it's the conservative states leading the abortion decline because kids are heeding abstinence education.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/08/abo...pt_in_states_where_access_is_most_restricted/

I live in a red, red, red state (sigh...) The following is a true story about my daughter's co-worker who got pregnant and couldn't tell her evangelical parents or scare up $1000 for an abortion. The drama went on for weeks and weeks (her parents are neighbors of mine, and still don't know). I was sure that she'd decided not to have the abortion.

Instead, she had the abortion at 18 weeks!! "Where did she get the money?" I asked my daughter. I learned she got a grant from NARAL. Because she waited until 18 weeks, she had to drive three hours away and have a much more invasive procedure.

She also had a lot of people turning against her and bad mouthing her. She spent a whole night at my daughter's crying, and my daughter took her in because she needed some healing and compassion.

So congratulations, pro-lifers. These are the kind of nightmares you're promoting, and some of your fellow pro-lifers stand ready on the other side to pin a scarlet letter on women's chests.

considering that she had pro abortion support it's no surprize at all that she chose that route. so i guess you could chalk up a 'win' for your side.

many studies have shown that it's the support that a mother gets from her friends which determines what she will do about the pregnancy.
But i've never seen any woman come out of an abortion factory who was happy with what they had done.

 

[MikeK]

abortion rates are down because there are fewer babies being born and also fewer pregnancies overall. Which means that you can't abort a baby that isn't there in the first place.

Lol!!!!! Wait, I want you to say that again. Abortion rates are down because there are fewer pregnancies?

 

[pdudgeon]

Lol!!!!! Wait, I want you to say that again. Abortion rates are down because there are fewer pregnancies?

I think you just saved me the trouble of having to repeat myself.

but yes. When a person thinks they are the most important person around (the "I'm in it for ME" crowd) you can bet that having a child is very low on the list of their priorities.
And if they happen to find themselves pregnant at an 'inconvenient time', they don't have to think twice about abortion--they just do it--because it's "only a blob of tissue".

Any justification seems to be plausible when they are the only star in the sky. Everything else is either a distraction or a speed bump to be gotten over on the road of their life.

p.s. Remember the old slogan "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still"? Looks like it's holding true.

 

[MikeK]

Tell about how fewer pregnancies explain a lower abortion rate, please.

 

[mea kulpa]

As survivers of the holocaust are growing up combined with easily accesible information on the internet they are rejecting abortion more an more

 

[Fantine]

Hint, hint: "Rate" is determined per unit of measurement. For example, if there were 1000 pregnancies, 50 abortions would be an abortion "rate" of 5%. If there were 1500 pregnancies and 75 abortions, the "rate" would still be 5%.

If the girl who had the 18 week abortion had told her parents, they would (after overcoming their initial shock) have been thrilled. She is an only child. They are well-off. The baby would have been doted on and well-supported. They couldn't be supportive because she kept it a secret from them.

She also had a boyfriend (who she'd recently reconciled with) who agreed with her decision.

While I was horrified to learn, after the fact, that she'd had a late term abortion after getting a grant from NARAL, I realize that the open condemnation and rejection by her "friends" was hurtful and inappropriate. What would have been appropriate was some active listening and even some kindness. What happened happened. A "healed" person will make better decisions in the future. A psychologically abused person will be stuck in neutral.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

abortion rates are down because there are fewer babies being born and also fewer pregnancies overall. Which means that you can't abort a baby that isn't there in the first place.

and that's really what these figures mean.

The real problem is that we are nearing the tipping point in the population's ability to regenerate itself. and if the present trend continues, it puts the future existance of life on Earth in jeopardy within 2 more generations.
the number of availble females who can concieve will decrease as well as the number of fertile males in such numbers as to make finding someone to mate with difficult at best.

The population of the earth hasn't decreased, so what evidence are you using for this?

 

[pdudgeon]

The population of the earth hasn't decreased, so what evidence are you using for this?

the earth's population hasn't decreased due to the movement of immigrants from one country to another.
fewer people are being born in Europe and China and the US.
Immigration is the reason that those countries in Europe and also in the US are not showing the true results of those lower pregnancy numbers.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

the earth's population hasn't decreased due to the movement of immigrants from one country to another.
fewer people are being born in Europe and China and the US.
Immigration is the reason that those countries in Europe and also in the US are not showing the true results of those lower pregnancy numbers.

Movement of immigrants doesn't increase the earth's population, just the population of countries they move to, while decreasing the population of the countries they leave.
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2014/2014-world-population-data-sheet/data-sheet.aspx

 

[Fantine]

Demographics say earth's population will increase till 2050 then stabilize.

 

[MikeK]

I'm still confused about how fewer births would explain a lower abortion rate. Can you help me out, PDug?

 

[Fantine]

Urbanization lowers family size even in Africa and the third world. Prosperity also lowers family size. The eradication of disease and clean water lowers the birth rate--because parents aren't burying their children.
Most of these trends occur naturally.
In agricultural societies, children are an extra set of hands. In urban societies, children are an extra mouth to feed--and sometimes no means to feed them.
But you can't keep seeing exploding populations without seeing more people living in cities.

 

[pdudgeon]

http://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1288&context=carsey

this is interesting.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Since the rate has been consistently lowering for decades, I predict it will reach record lows under Trump and the Republican controlled congress.

It's not really an out there prediction; it's been a slow but consistent decline for years and there's no reason that that will change. (Maybe if they actually start tracking California again). But I doubt that we'll hear as many articles celebrating it when it happens.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

Since the rate has been consistently lowering for decades, I predict it will reach record lows under Trump and the Republican controlled congress.

It's not really an out there prediction; it's been a slow but consistent decline for years and there's no reason that that will change. (Maybe if they actually start tracking California again). But I doubt that we'll hear as many articles celebrating it when it happens.

I guess it depends on what the reasons are. If it's because of better sex ed, better access to birth control, a stronger social safety net, better access to healthcare, etc, then it might start to tick back up if Trump and Congress roll those things back.
If it's due to the effect of pro life protesters and abstinence only education, then it might continue on its downward trend.

 

[MikeK]

I guess it depends on what the reasons are. If it's because of better sex ed, better access to birth control, a stronger social safety net, better access to healthcare, etc, then it might start to tick back up if Trump and Congress roll those things back.
If it's due to the effect of pro life protesters and abstinence only education, then it might continue on its downward trend.

I suspect that the downward trend in the rate of procured abortions might continue to drop in spite of Trump having been elected. The internet has opened a world of information to children who's parents might have desired to keep them in the dark about the facts of human biology and the efficacy of contraceptives. It might be that abstinence-only sex education is less dangerous today to our children than it was 20 years ago because the truth is always their fingertips. Additionally - and paradoxically - society as it drifts from Christianity is becoming less and less tolerant of coercive or flat-out abusive behavior toward females. a generation or two ago it would have been shameful for a woman to speak up about the poor treatment she was receiving from a male and in many cases she would feel compelled to keep her mouth shut and take it sometimes resulting in situations that led to unwanted pregnancies. That is still a problem today, but less so, thankfully.

There's so many smart people in this thread, I keep hoping one of them will finally come forward and explain to me why less pregnancies (for /some/ but not all of the years over which the abortion rate decreased) should be expected to result in a decrease in abortion rate.