Not because fewer women decided to end an unwanted pregnancy

Surprised not surprised – it turns out that contraceptives reduce the abortion rate. Women’s Health reports:

The new analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, which was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reveals that the unintended pregnancy rate declined by a whopping 18 percent between 2008 and 2011, bringing it to the lowest it’s been in 30 years.

The study’s authors also found that 42 percent of unintended pregnancies in 2011 ended in abortion, as compared with 40 percent in 2008—meaning that although the number of abortions has declined (due to the lower rate of unintended pregnancies), the proportion of unintended pregnancies that end in abortion has actually remained about the same (and even increased slightly).

“These findings provide significant new clarity for the U.S. abortion debate,” Joerg Dreweke, author of the Guttmacher policy analysis accompanying the study, said in a press statement. “We now know that abortion declined primarily because of fewer unintended pregnancies, and not because fewer women decided to end an unwanted pregnancy.”

Women are so obstinate, aren’t they? Insisting on deciding for themselves whether they want to be pregnant or not?

 

Another study recently revealed that when low-income women were denied access to Planned Parenthood clinics, their use of long-acting reversible contraceptives dropped, and their rates of unintended pregnancies rose dramatically.

“In short, supporting and expanding women’s access to family planning services not only protects their health and rights, it also reduces abortion rates,” Dreweke said. “The clear implication for policymakers who wish to see fewer abortions occur is to focus on making contraceptive care more available by increasing funding and stopping attacks on all family planning providers.”

On the other hand if the goal is to remove all autonomy from women, keep whittling away at abortion rights.

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