A new statistic released by the New York City health department is shocking pro-life advocates across the country today as it shows 41 percent of pregnancies end in abortion.
That compares with the figure of about 20 percent of pregnancies nationwide ending in abortions, as the abortion rate has been reduced over the last two decades from one in three to one in five pregnancies resulting in an abortion and the destruction of human life.
The new city numbers, from 2009, show 87,273 abortions in New York City two years ago — numbers that are higher than the abortion figures of every state except California. If miscarriages are taken out of the equation, 48 percent of pregnancies of women in the Bronx end in abortion, 38 percent of Manhattan women opt for an abortion, as do 32 percent of women living on Staten Island.
Of the 225,667 pregnancies in new York City in 2009, 126,774 babies were born and there were 11,620 miscarriages.
The figures showed black women had the highest number of abortions, with 40,798, while Hispanics had the second highest number, 28,364.
Responding to the news, New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan is calling for efforts in the nation’s largest city to truly make abortion “rare,” and its supports claim they want.
Dolan and other Catholic and pro-life leaders gathered on Thursday to discuss the new figure and what to do about it. Although he admitted there is no way to end abortions immediately, he said it is important ‘to tell people what is happening” so they are motivated to do something about it.
“New York does not deserve the gravestone ‘Abortion capital of the world.’ Our boast is the Statue of Liberty, not the Grim Reaper,” he said, calling the new numbers “chilling.” “For the first time since coming here I’m embarrassed for New York City. We have to do more than shiver over these statistics.”
“I re-affirm Cardinal John O’Connor’s promise of a quarter-century ago that every woman facing a difficult pregnancy will be provided with free, confidential help of the highest quality from the Archdiocese of New York,” said Archbishop Dolan, according to CBS News. “We are prepared to do everything in our power to help you and your unborn baby to make absolutely certain that you need never feel that you have no choice but an abortion.”
Bishop Dimarzio of Brooklyn and Rabbi David Zwiebel joined Dolan.
“So many have said abortion must be rare. 87,000 abortions in this city is not rare. It’s an abysmal failure,” Zwiebel said.
Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, also spoke about the problem, and his abortion alternatives organization pledged more than $1 million to try to lower the figures.
“Like it or not, the legality of abortion is a settled question in New York for the time being,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we have to accept the fact that in parts of the city nearly half of all pregnancies end in abortion.”
Thomas Peters, of Catholic Vote and AmericanPapist, attended the forum yesterday on stopping abortions and said the new numbers confirm why “New York City is called the abortion capital of America.”
Peters is urging pro-life advocates to visit NYC41Percent.com to support the foundation’s work to cut abortions.
“One thought struck me in particular as I listened to the speakers and looked at the handout with the abortion figures on it: the other side had their chance, now it is ours. Those who promised before Roe v. Wade that abortions would be legal, safe and rare after the decision were only right about the first of those three promises. We know that abortion is safe for no one: not for the mother, and certainly not for the child,” he said. “And, as our largest city attests, abortion is not rare. We’ve had thirty-five years as a nation to see if their promises would come true, and they haven’t. Now it’s time to make our own.”
