Abortion-related issues have garnered several news headlines recently.
In China, statistics released July 30 indicate there are 13 million abortions a year in that country. U.S. experts say the abortions are a direct result of the country’s one-child policy that often includes forced abortions and that this number is actually a low estimate to the true number of abortions in China.
The state-run China Daily newspaper, which published the statistics, reported that the 13-million figure came only from abortions that are conducted in registered medical institutions, while about 10 million abortion-inducing pills, such as RU-486, are sold each year in the country.
In the United States, where about 1.2 million abortions are performed annually, the abortion debate has surfaced in the negotiations among congressional lawmakers attempting to work out a national health-care overhaul plan at the urging of President Barack Obama.
Many fear taxpayers will be forced to fund abortions on demand if the legislation is not carefully structured.
In another legislative move, Democratic Reps. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, both members of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, have introduced a bill titled “Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Pregnant Women and Parents Act.”
A number of religious leaders are backing this bill, which is seen as an effort to defuse the contentious debate over abortion with common-ground solutions that reduce the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting women who might otherwise abort for economic reasons.
More than three dozen faith leaders and organizations from across the political spectrum announced support for the bill, which seeks to redirect decades of debate away from abortion rights and toward the reasons women have abortions.
“It emphasizes not the 10 percent of the issue where we continue to differ but the 90 percent where we all agree,” DeLauro said at a Washington press conference announcing the bill July 23.
Several Baptists submitted statements of support, including Frank Page, former Southern Baptist Convention president, who told The Associated Press he has concerns about the bill but that he tentatively supports it.
David Gushee, an ethics professor at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., said from his pro-life perspective, it is “regrettable” the bill does not challenge legal access to abortion, but that it sends “a new kind of message” on abortion — providing “genuine choice” by meeting economic and health-care needs of women who otherwise might feel they have no choice other than to terminate their pregnancy.
The bill says 49 percent of all pregnancies in America are unintended and that, excluding miscarriages, 42 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion. It says low-income women are four times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than their higher-income counterparts.
The bill summary says it aims to reduce the need for abortion by preventing unwanted pregnancies from occurring in the first place through comprehensive education and after-school and other programs, by increasing support for family planning services under Title X of the Public Health Service Act and Medicaid and with resources that provide health-care, information and other supportive services for pregnant women and new parents.
Not everyone is on board, however. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, argued that instead of reducing abortion, the bill would actually increase federal funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. (ABP, BP)
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