Abortion and the Bush administration.

[Little Raven]

It's Friday. I'm tired. So here's a bunny with a pancake on it's head. Or something.

I look at the fruits of political policies more than words. I analyzed the data on abortion during the George W. Bush presidency. There is no single source for this information - federal reports go only to 2000, and many states do not report - but I found enough data to identify trends. My findings are counterintuitive and disturbing.

Abortion was decreasing. When President Bush took office, the nation's abortion rates were at a 24-year low, after a 17.4% decline during the 1990s. This was an average decrease of 1.7% per year, mostly during the latter part of the decade. (This data comes from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life using the Guttmacher Institute's studies).

Enter George W. Bush in 2001. One would expect the abortion rate to continue its consistent course downward, if not plunge. Instead, the opposite happened.

I found three states that have posted multi-year statistics through 2003, and abortion rates have risen in all three: Kentucky's increased by 3.2% from 2000 to 2003. Michigan's increased by 11.3% from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania's increased by 1.9% from 1999 to 2002. I found 13 additional states that reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an increase in abortion rates (14.6% average increase), and five saw a decrease (4.3% average decrease).

Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed. Given the trends of the 1990s, 52,000 more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002 than would have been expected before this change of direction.

How could this be? I see three contributing factors:

First, two thirds of women who abort say they cannot afford a child (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Web site). In the past three years, unemployment rates increased half again. Not since Hoover had there been a net loss of jobs during a presidency until the current administration. Average real incomes decreased, and for seven years the minimum wage has not been raised to match inflation. With less income, many prospective mothers fear another mouth to feed.

Second, half of all women who abort say they do not have a reliable mate (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life). Men who are jobless usually do not marry. Only three of the 16 states had more marriages in 2002 than in 2001, and in those states abortion rates decreased. In the 16 states overall, there were 16,392 fewer marriages than the year before, and 7,869 more abortions. As male unemployment increases, marriages fall and abortion rises.

Third, women worry about health care for themselves and their children. Since 5.2 million more people have no health insurance now than before this presidency - with women of childbearing age overrepresented in those 5.2 million - abortion increases.

Thoughts?

 

[Mr. Do]

When certain right-wingers realise that they can help cut abortions by focussing on quality sex education including use of contraceptives and helping babies after they're born as well as before (even if that means giving single mothers welfare payments) instead of the current somewhat unhelpful practise of labelling women sluts and whores, the situation will improve for everyone greatly.

 

[GerrardCapashen]

When certain right-wingers realise that they can help cut abortions by focussing on quality sex education including use of contraceptives and helping babies after they're born as well as before (even if that means giving single mothers welfare payments) instead of the current somewhat unhelpful practise of labelling women sluts and whores, the situation will improve for everyone greatly.

That would require that they admit they were wrong, which isn't going to happen anytime soon.

 

[zjl56]

It means that we need to shut down all abortion clinics and if people need help raising children we help them.

 

[Peri]

It means that we need to shut down all abortion clinics and if people need help raising children we help them.

So you are going to devote your life and all your future earnings to this are you then because that is what it will take to raise just one child.

 

[Hundegesicht]

It means that we need to shut down all abortion clinics and if people need help raising children we help them.

On average, it costs $120,000 to raise a child from birth to the age of 18 in the U.S., or almost $7,000 a year. Granted, the more kids you have, the cheaper it gets because of tax breaks, buying the same things in bulk, etc. but it's still an extremely expensive thing to do. I only make ~$28,000 a year... having even a single child to support would take a quarter of my income, and I really couldn't afford that. How do you plan on helping all these extra children?

Note, I'm not pro-abortion, I just don't see how we could finance such a project short term. (though if we could guarentee that they all become productive members of society maybe they could pay it back long term)

 

[zjl56]

It doesn't take much to raise a child considering money wise. 120,000 is way more than needed. But the government can easily do something like that.

 

[downtown]

where do you get that number? it costs at least a hundred grand just to HAVE the baby!

 

[Mario Feldberg]

Bush's anti-abortion policies are primarly designed to get him votes from the christian fanatics. And to these people sex education is just as bad as abortion.

I've just read an news item about the members of a christian sect (here in Germany!) who refuse to send their children to school because they want to protect them from the evils of sex education and evolution theory. They do home schooling but here in Germany kids are forced to go to school by law (home schooling isn't an acceptable alternative). The sect members already had to pay 130.000 Euro and the familiy fathers are in jail (for an theoretically unlimited time - until they give in).
Whatever, one thing for sure the Republicans will never encourage "quality sex education" because they would lose the votes of the christian fanatics (which would probably mean that the Democrats would win every national election in future).

 

[Tassadar]

The relation between economic and abortion is clever, one of my friend, a psychologist, always said, that if the economy is top shape, there is much less social trouble, like conjugal violence, bums,vandalism,..ect...

So Bush economic policy, like the tax cut for only the rich, indeed provock insecurity and raise in abortion, but dont expect him or his supporter to understand that.

 

[CurtSibling]

It means that we need to shut down all abortion clinics and if people need help raising children we help them.

Let's solve world debt, end hunger and go to meet the Wizard of Oz while we are at it, eh?

 

[cgannon64]

Eek - you're blaming Bush for something he probably has little control over (economy and employment rate), and then connecting that to something it may have little effect on (abortions).

People go to great lengths in search of irony...

 

[Tassadar]

Eek - you're blaming Bush for something he probably has little control over (economy and employment rate), and then connecting that to something it may have little effect on (abortions).

People go to great lengths in search of irony...

Oh and you think that borowing 2 trillion dollars from the asian bank to finance his futile war effort and draining most the public funds into his war buisness had nothing to do with socio-economic problem?

 

[General Joey]

Hey! It helps their economy!

 

[cgannon64]

Oh and you think that borowing 2 trillion dollars from the asian bank to finance his futile war effort and draining most the public funds into his war buisness had nothing to do with socio-economic problem?

Maybe the President can help create unemployment, but he its certainly hard for him to create empoyment.

 

[Richard Cribb]

The relation between economic and abortion is clever, one of my friend, a psychologist, always said, that if the economy is top shape, there is much less social trouble, like conjugal violence, bums,vandalism,..ect....

Amen to that!

So Bush economic policy, like the tax cut for only the rich, indeed provock insecurity and raise in abortion, but dont expect him or his supporter to understand that.

Completely right again! And I must compliment you on your signature as well!

 

[BasketCase]

Whether a strong economy actually decreases social strife is something I'm going to have to chew on for a while--I've seen people are frequently at their best when the situation around them is at its worst.

The problem with the theory raised in the first post is its false assumption that Bush actually has any control over the economy. And no, Iraq War #2 didn't tank the economy.

 

[stratego]

Stats don't lie (unless the people making the stats are lying)
If abortion rates rise during Bush's administration, he's obviously not doing a good job with his abortion policies.

 

[cgannon64]

Stats don't lie (unless the people making the stats are lying)
If abortion rates rise during Bush's administration, he's obviously not doing a good job with his abortion policies.

Statistics are lies; worse than damned lies, in fact.

Anyway, what was Bush's abortion policies? Did he do anything besides ban partial-birth abortion?

 

[Blasphemous]

The problem with the theory raised in the first post is its false assumption that Bush actually has any control over the economy. And no, Iraq War #2 didn't tank the economy.

So spending ~$142b on a foreign war doesn't affect the economy. Ineresting.