Vermont’s Declining Abortion Numbers Likely to Rise

Planned Parenthood Moves Abortion Facility to White River Junction to Avoid Notifying Parents

Editor’s note. The following was posted by Vermont Right to Life.

A new national report from the Associated Press indicates that abortions have dropped 12 percent nationwide and are down in almost every state in the country as more women are choosing life for their babies.

From the report:

Abortions have declined in states where new laws make it harder to have them — but they’ve also waned in states where abortion rights are protected, an Associated Press survey finds. Nearly everywhere, in red states and blue, abortions are down since 2010.

Several of the states that have been most aggressive in passing anti-abortion laws — including Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma — have seen their abortion numbers drop by more than 15 percent since 2010. But more liberal states such as New York, Washington and Oregon also had declines of that magnitude, even as they maintained unrestricted access to abortion.

Here in Vermont, Health Department figures have dropped steadily for decades from a high in the mid-1980’s of well over 3,000 abortions annually, to, more recently, just over 1,000. From the Vermont Health Department: 1,333 abortions in 2010; 1,355 in 2011; 1,270 in 2012 and 1,214 in 2013.

However, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England recently moved their Lebanon, New Hampshire abortion clinic across the river to White River Junction after the New Hampshire Legislature enacted a parental notification law requiring abortion clinics to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl.

Vermonters should expect the annual number of abortions to rise in light of the move.

The White River Junction clinic offers chemical abortions up to 10 weeks and surgical abortions up to 12 weeks, 6 days of pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood of VT is the largest provider of abortions with 12 clinics at various locations across Vermont. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England includes Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire yet more than half of their 21 clinics are located in Vermont.

While a few abortions are performed in Vermont hospitals, Planned Parenthood performs approximately 900 per year at their clinics. Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in Burlington will perform abortions up to 19 weeks.