Posted on the No Room for Contraception Blog by Ruben
In an opinion piece published today on the Huffington Post, author Christina Page asserts that it is the "Pro-choice" movement which "takes responsibility for finding effective solutions" to the problems of unintended pregnancy and abortion.
Ms. Page claims that it's an unacknowledged fact that "pro-choice policies that result in dramatic declines in the need for abortion" and that the "pro-choice movement is the only side working on prevention of unintended pregnancy."
I'm not sure what planet she lives on, but it doesn't sound like this one. "Pro-choice" policies have not resulted in dramatic declines in abortion - either Ms. Page hasn't done her homework, or she is ignoring decades worth of data.
During the 1970s, the percentage of women aged 15-19 who ever engaged in premarital sex rose from 30.4% in 1971 to 43.4% in 1976, and rose again to 49.8% in 1979. Not only did the number of those who had sex before marriage increase, but the pregnancy rates of both married and unmarried women in this age group increased as well: 95.1 in 1972, 101.1 in 1976, and 109.4 in 1979. [2] Abortion also increased - for this same group, the abortion rate rose from...
