By Dave Andrusko
Encouraging news out of Utah. A report from the state Department of Health reveals that there were 3,270 abortions performed on residents in 2009, the lowest figure since 1999. Among women of child-bearing age (defined as 15-44), Utah’s 5.3/1,000 is the lowest since 1980. More encouraging yet is that Utah’s abortion rate is barely one/quarter that of the national abortion rate—20/1,000 women, 15-44.
Most revealing were comments from Miriam Staker, administrator of the Utah Women’s Clinic, described as “provid[ing] first- and second-trimester abortions.”
Staker told the Salt Lake Tribune that the drop in her clinic’s abortion numbers goes back to 2006. Notice the sterile, dehumanizing way she talks.
“Many patients, they don’t have the money to pay for the procedure. They may decide to keep it [the baby] and put it [the baby] up for adoption,” she told the Tribune.
Lois Bloebaum, manager of the health department’s Maternal & Infant Health Program, “would like to attribute the abortion reduction” to the department’s recent push among women ages 18 to 30 (the “Power Your Life” campaign) to better plan their pregnancies.
Plus, “you have to take into account the culture in Utah and the pro-life, predominant view here,” Bloebaum told the Tribune. “Our abortion rates are lower generally.”
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