Correcting the record: Abortions went down under President Bush, not up

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JillStanek.com May 29: During last night's "discussion" between pro-life/pro-Obama Prof. Doug Kmiec and pro-life/anti-Obama Prof. Robert George, Kmiec repeated a false statement.

Kmiec said the number of abortions went UP under President George W. Bush. On Fox News Sunday May 17 Fr. Richard McBrien, a pro-Obama Notre Dame theology professor, made the same erroneous claim in a debate with Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.

My friend, Professor (and statistical analyzer) Michael New, wants to correct the record:

The data do not bear this out. In fact the most recent data from both the Centers for Disease Control and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (research arm of Planned Parenthood) indicate that abortions fell during George W. Bush's presidency.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute between 2000 and 2005 the number of abortions declined from 1,312,990 to 1,206,200 (a decline of 8.1%, data obtained from all 50 states)....

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute the abortion rate (abortions per thousand women between 15 and 44) between 2000 and 2005 declined from 21.3 to 19.4.

According to the Centers for Disease Control between 2000 and 2005 the number of abortions declined from 842,553 to 818,196 (a decline of 2.9% for the 46 states reporting data both years).

According to the Centers for Disease Control the abortion rate (abortions per thousand women between 15 and 44) between 2000 and 2005 declined from 16 to 15.

Note: CA and a few other states do not report data to the CDC which is why their numbers are lower.

Under no metric does the incidence of abortion increase during the Presidency of George W. Bush.