We’ve had quite a month in South Bend. When the President accepted the invitation to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony, the media jumped all over the supposed re-ignition of the abortion debate. 

Randall Terry came to perform an Operation Rescue--with Alan Keyes in tow. I’m not sure who was rescued, but I did notice that they were very good at getting arrested, pushing around strollers with blood-drenched plastic dolls, and publicly displaying graphic images of aborted fetuses--on trucks, on airplane banners, and on posters. They were also pretty good at pissing off the locals.

Terry and Keyes promised an army of protesters 20,000 strong, that would line the streets surrounding campus. Terry said, “My goal, and my challenge to everyone, is to create such a political mud pit here that Obama chooses to not walk through it in order to speak.” 

I wanted Randall to tell you how that worked out for him, but he was a little busy this morning what with the arraignment and all, so I’ll have to fill you in. I’m not so good with the math, but I don’t think 300 equals 20,000. Even still, I can see how 300 angry white people (plus Alan Keyes) holding pictures of cut up fetuses and calling random passersby “murderers” is jarring. The media sure liked it. The protesters got loads of press coverage. Locally, the police handed out “No Trespassing” signs so that the people who actually live on the street where the out-of-towners were camped could have them arrested if they stepped onto private property. I saw one guy interviewed who was running his sprinklers. With a twinkle in his eye, he told a reporter that the water was nourishing his lawn. And the sidewalk.

I've been a little bit busy in April and May, so I didn’t get a chance to watch much of the coverage. What I did see concentrated more on whether Notre Dame was committing mortal sin with the invitation or whether the anti-Obama Catholics were committing mortal hypocrisy. Guess which one I pick.

Anyway, the protests are over now, and the abortion controversy has been effectively over for a while. A recent Gallup poll indicated that the majority of Americans were pro-life. But a new CNN poll reveals that although 51% of Americans might call themselves “pro-life,” 68% of us do not wish to see Roe vs. Wade overturned. Hey, Randall, maybe the 30% of Americans who do want it overturned will chip in to pay your court costs.

It’s been a while since I thought much about abortion as a national political issue what with war and torture and economic disaster being front and center. So, I went looking for some abortion statistics this morning. What I found is a report from the Guttmacher Instituted from July 2008 titled, Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States. 

WHO HAS ABORTIONS?

 

• Fifty percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20–24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 17%.
• Thirty-seven percent of abortions occur to black women, 34% to non-Hispanic white women, 22% to Hispanic women and 8% to women of other races. 
• Women who have never married obtain two-thirds of all abortions. 
• About 60% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children. 
• The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women). This is partly because the rate of unintended pregnancies among poor women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty (112 vs. 29 per 1,000 women). 
• The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

 

No surprise here. Most of the women having abortions are young or poor, or both. So, if a group was, say, truly committed to reducing the number of abortions (as opposed to, for example, controlling women and throwing temper tantrums until they get their way), my suggestion would be to make contraception and sex education more widely available to the young and the poor. 

Abortion is legal. An overwhelming majority of the country supports abortion remaining legal. Instead of using negative tactics in a probably-doomed attempt to reverse that trend, why not use positive tactics to educate and protect those who are least equipped to care for a child? 

Still, even when contraceptives are used, they sometimes fail.

• Fifty-four percent of women who have abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant. Among those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users report having used their method inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users report correct use. 
• Forty-six percent of women who have abortions had not used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Of these women, 33% had perceived themselves to be at low risk for pregnancy, 32% had had concerns about contraceptive methods, 26% had had unexpected sex and 1% had been forced to have sex. 
• Eight percent of women who have abortions have never used a method of birth control; nonuse is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated. 
• About half of unintended pregnancies occur among the 11% of women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy but are not using contraceptives. Most of these women have practiced contraception in the past.

No contraceptive method is 100% accurate, but the overwhelming majority of women who have abortions have either not used any contraception or have used it inconsistently. This only strengthens the theory that better education about, and availability of, contraceptives would reduce the number of abortions. 

PROVIDERS AND SERVICES

 

• The number of U.S. abortion providers declined by 2% between 2000 and 2005 (from 1,819 to 1,787). Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties lacked an abortion provider in 2005; 35% of women live in those counties. 
• Forty percent of providers offer very early abortions (even before the first missed period) and 96% offer abortion at eight weeks from the last menstrual period. Sixty-seven percent of providers offer at least some second-trimester abortion services (13 weeks or later), and 20% offer abortion after 20 weeks. Only 8% of all abortion providers offer abortions at 24 weeks. 
• The proportion of providers offering abortion at four or fewer weeks’ gestation increased from 7% in 1993 to 40% in 2005. 
• In 2005, the cost of a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks’ gestation ranged from $90 to $1,800; the average amount paid was $413. 

 

Here is a place where the anti-abortion movement has had some success. Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties lack an abortion provider. This unfairly burdens the young and the poor, who are less likely to have the means to travel. Even still, the young and the poor make up the largest group of women who have abortions, yet again strengthening the argument for better education and access to family planning. 

The next section of the report might be my favorite, because it is a great illustration of how the pro-life movement has used scare tactics and misinformation to enact legislation that handcuffs doctors and hurts women. 

• Eighty-nine percent of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, 2004.

 

 

When women have abortions (in weeks from the last menstrual period)

 

 

 

Eighty-nine percent! So much for the theory that women wait until the fetus is viable to decide they don’t want to carry it to term. Only slightly over 1% of abortions occur after 21 weeks. When a woman finds out she is pregnant, if the pregnancy is unintended, she doesn’t wait for seven months to decide what to do. Late term abortions are overwhelmingly employed when the mother’s life is in danger. By banning the procedure, we are endangering women. 

Finally, let’s take a look at medication abortion.

 

• In September 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the abortion drug Mifepristone to be marketed in the United States as an alternative to surgical abortion.
• In 2005, 57% of abortion providers, or 1,026 facilities, provided one or more medication abortions, a 70% increase from the first half of 2001. At least 10% of nonhospital abortion providers offer only medication abortion services. 
• Medication abortion accounted for 13% of all abortions, and 22% of abortions before nine weeks’ gestation, in 2005. 

 

I predict that the number of medication abortions will grow and the number of surgical abortions will decrease. This is a positive development. Now, in the privacy of a doctor’s office, women, and those close to them, are able to make decisions about their own bodies without the intrusion of strangers.

I expect that the rancor of the abortion debate will continue to subside as medication abortions increase, although I’m not sure that the two opposing sides will ever be able to overcome the demonization of one other. I know it’s a struggle for me to accept that those who oppose abortion always act out of good faith. But it’s a struggle I’m willing to wage with myself, providing I’m met halfway.