[GCFL-discuss] Life Stats

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

I just read an article by Mark W. Roche, a dean at Note Dame University,
needless to say a Catholic, and naturally, firm in condemning abortion.

He notes that during the eight years Reagan was president, the number of
legal abortions performed in the U.S. climbed by 5%, while during the
eight years Clinton was president, the number dropped by 36%. Apparently
there were some shifts in the number of women between ages 15 and 44,
between those two periods, because the rate of abortions per 1000 such
women was more or less stable during Reagan's terms, and dropped by 11%
during Clinton's.

Either way, the numbers don't match up with the politics. Roche suggests
that "Those who view abortion as the most significant issue in this
campaign may well want to supllement their abstract desire for moral
rectitude with a more realistic focus on how best to ensure that fewer
abortions take place."

He notes that the traditional Democratic concern with the social safety
net makes it easier for pregnant women to make responsible decisions and
for young life to flourish. The world's lowest abortion rates are in
Belgium and the Netherlands, where abortion is legal but the welfare
state strong, and the world's highest rates are in Latin America, where
almost all abortions are illegal, and poverty rampant.

Finally, more or less as I have been saying "The oral condemnation of
abortion need not lead to the conclusion that criminal prosecution is the
best way to limit the number of abortions."

Siarlys


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