10,701 total is lowest since 1975 as women find life-giving alternatives
The following news release was issued today, July 1, 2013.
ST. PAUL — Abortion numbers have dropped for the sixth straight year in Minnesota, according to the latest annual Abortion Report issued today by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The decrease of 3.3 percent follows a trend of fewer abortions statewide since Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) helped to enact the Positive Alternatives law, which took effect in July 2006. But that is not the only reason for the decrease in abortions.
The downward trajectory reflects a profound shift occurring across the country: Americans are turning away from abortion as a solution to unexpected pregnancy. Technology such as ultrasound imaging and in utero surgery, as well as new scientific understanding of fetal development and the unborn child's ability to feel pain, are teaching people more than ever that abortion ends a human life, not just a pregnancy.
"We know so much more today about the facts of human life in the womb, and of the many ways that abortion hurts women," said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. "Women are rejecting the abortion industry’s condescending argument that they must abort their unborn children in order to succeed in life."
Legislation has helped to empower women in their desire to give birth to their unborn babies. Positive Alternatives is one of several lifesaving legislative efforts by MCCL. It offers women life-affirming alternatives to abortion by funding programs that help women with health care, housing, education, transportation and much more. The state's Woman's Right to Know informed consent law and the parental notification law for minors considering abortion also serve to empower women with factual information and trustworthy support.
"Most women don't want to abort their unborn babies, and today's report is further evidence that the greater the access women are given to factual information and abortion alternatives, the fewer of them resort to abortion," Fischbach said. "MCCL has always been focused on empowering women to choose life and our efforts are clearly working."
The 2012 total of 10,701 abortions is a reduction of 3.3 percent from the previous year's 11,071 total. More than half were performed on women in their 20s. A total of 13,388 women received the Woman's Right to Know informed consent information, meaning 2,687 women chose not to abort after learning about fetal development, abortion risks and complications, and abortion alternatives. This is an increase over the previous year.
Today's report also shows that taxpayer funded abortions grew to 34 percent of all abortions reported in the state, the highest percentage since the 1995 Doe v. Gomez Supreme Court ruling requiring taxpayers to fund abortions.
Full reports for 2012 and prior years are available at the MDH website.
