Pro-Life Laws Reduce Number of Abortions, Study Says

Written by Erin Curry

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Parental involvement laws, bans on taxpayer-funded abortions, informed consent laws, and partial-birth abortion bans reduce the number of abortions performed within the jurisdiction of such laws, according to a new study by a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-MIT Data Center.

"Those states that adopted pro-life legislation during the 1990s experienced larger reductions in abortion rates and ratios than those states that did not adopt such legislation," the study said, according to LifeNews.com.

The study, published by the Heritage Foundation, said pro-life legislation passed by state legislatures led to the decline in the number of abortions by 17.4 percent during the 1990s.

Laws prohibiting taxpayer-funded abortions with the use of Medicaid dollars reduced the abortion rate by about 30 percent, the study showed. States that passed Right-to-Know laws informing women of the consequences of an abortion saw the abortion rate drop by 22 percent.

"In spite of Roe v. Wade, in spite of activist judges, in spite of often-biased media, the pro-life community is helping thousands of women choose life," Clarke Forsythe, president of Americans United for Life, said on LifeNews.com. "Working together, AUL, other national and state pro-life groups, and crisis pregnancy centers have never given up showing women that their lives are lived better by choosing life for their unborn children."

In an assessment of state efforts to protect women and unborn children, Americans United for Life, a bioethics law firm devoted to changing laws to protect human life, released its inaugural State Report Cards in mid-January.

Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arkansas topped the list of states credited for initiatives designed to protect women, their health, and their unborn children. Vermont, Oregon, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Alaska ranked worst in their efforts to curb abortion.

AUL examined state laws in three primary areas to determine the rankings: laws related to abortion, laws that protect unborn victims of violence, and laws that protect the rights of conscience of healthcare workers. Researchers also evaluated the impact each state governor and attorney general has on the laws that are passed as well as recent decisions by state supreme courts.

Top-rated Louisiana's score of 36 out of a possible 42 indicates that elected officials in each state can still do more to safeguard women and the unborn, AUL said.

A letter grade reflecting the productivity of each state's 2003 legislative session also was listed, with states that passed two or more protective laws receiving an A. Nine states – Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia – received the top letter grade for their accomplishments.

"While 2003 was a strong session for legislation that protects women and unborn children in states like Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota, the sad reality is that 32 states scored below 25, failing to adopt and enforce many basic, common-sense legal protections for women and unborn children," Denise Burke, AUL staff counsel and project coordinator, said.

The Chicago-based AUL plans to issue the report cards on an annual basis and later this year plans to expand their coverage to include a review of the 2004 state legislative sessions and state laws related to human cloning, destructive embryo research, fetal tissue harvesting and research and other biotechnology issues.

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