Study: Abortion Funding Cuts Reduce Abortions, Why Does Obama Want More?
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 17, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the premier pro-abortion research group, has released a new report admitting that almost all of the public studies on the subject show cutting taxpayer-funding for abortions reduces the number of abortions.
AGI’s recent literature review about limits on Medicaid funding of abortions reveals 20 of 24 academic studies arrive at that conclusion.
Dr. Michael New, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, talked about the new AGI review in a column at National Review.
"Overall, the results indicate that there is a very strong consensus among both public-health researchers and economists that public funding restrictions lower abortion rates," he explains. "These studies analyze data from a range of sources including surveys and aggregate data from the federal, state, and local level."
The other four studies AGI surveyed do not show that abortion funding cuts increase abortions, they merely were unable to reach a conclusion about the effect of such policies.
"The evidence presented about the effectiveness of public funding restrictions is very persuasive," New says.
One 1999 study looking at North Carolina’s provisions for public funding of abortions. Unlike other states that use taxpayer money to pay for abortions for poor women, North Carolina did not subsidize abortions through Medicaid but used a separate abortion fund that recently was cut from the state budget.
"When funds were unavailable, the authors found a consistent increase in the birth rate and a decrease in the abortion rate," New writes at National Review. "Furthermore, these trends were more pronounced among blacks," who typically have higher abortion rates.
Another Guttmacher study highlighted in the review found that the abortion rate among Medicaid recipients was more than twice as high in those states that publicly funded abortion through Medicaid.
New says the results of the AGI literature review have important practical and political consequences.
"These findings provide additional evidence that the rhetoric of President Obama on sanctity of life issues does not match his record," he says.
Although he campaigned on, and has since promoted, attempts to reduce abortions, New says "President Obama has consistently demonstrated a willingness to promote funding of abortion both at home and abroad."
During the first week of his presidency, Obama overturned the Mexico City Policy and allowed funding of groups that promote and perform abortions. Later, he asked Congress to overturn the ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in the District of Columbia.
Meanwhile, Congress has repeatedly stopped attempts to limit the health care bills it is considering from paying for abortions or requiring insurance companies to cover them.
"All these developments should give serious pause to the dwindling number of pro-lifers who still believe that President Obama is actually serious about preventing abortions," New concludes.
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