A new survey by the Associated Press (AP) reveals a 12 percent decrease in abortion rates in the U.S. since 2010.
The states with the highest decrease are: Hawaii (30 percent), New Mexico (24%), Nevada (22%), Rhode Island (22%), and Connecticut (21%).
It’s worth noting that none of these states have recently passed laws limiting access to abortion clinics or medical practitioners who provide abortion services.
States seeing an increase in abortion rates:
Michigan rates are up 18.5 percent. Experts theorize the rate is so high because an increasing number of women have been pushed out of their own state due to shutdowns and restrictions and cross over for the procedure. In 2013, the AP found there were 708 nonresident abortions in Michigan; the number jumped to 1,318 in 2014.
Louisiana is up 12 percent due to women from Texas crossing the state border to get the procedure. Ironically, the AP reported Americans United For Life voted Louisiana as the state that is best at “taking steps to reduce access to abortion” five of the last six years.
CEO of Planned Parenthood in southern New England, Judy Tabar, believes the decreases in Rhode Island and Connecticut are because of easier access to contraception. She told the AP that insurers in the two states now offer full coverage for contraception methods that may have been previously unavailable to women there. Tabar added that across the nation, Planned Parenthood has seen a 91 percent increase in the use of various forms of long-term contraception, including IUDs and other implants, since 2009.
The exact reason for the decline in abortion rates is unclear, and anti-choice activists want to take credit, but considering the drop was in states that provided easy access to contraception, that is a difficult argument to make. Since increases took place in states that are adjacent to states that have shamed women and made it difficult, if not impossible, to get a safe abortion, it stands to reason that the anti-choice theory is a load of crap.
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