Study: Abortion Decrease Stalls, Major Uptick in Harassment At Clinics

[marmar]

from AlterNet:



Study: Abortion Decrease Stalls, Major Uptick in Harassment At Clinics


For years, the number of abortions performed in the United States has declined. But the latest comprehensive survey from the Guttmacher Institute released today--covering data from 2008-- shows that the decline has stopped at about 1.21 million abortions per year (which is a bit less than 20 abortions per 1,000 women).

There were virtually the same number of abortions in 2008 a in 2005," said Rachel K. Jones, Senior Research Associate at the intitute, during a conference call on Tuesday, calling it "the first time we’ve seen a stalling.” The abortion rates--or percentage of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion, had also stalled, the data showed.

The unsurprising conclusion, then, is that more needs to be done for women. “In this time of heightened politicization around abortion, our stalled progress should be an urgent message to policymakers that we need to do more to increase access to contraceptive services to prevent unintended pregnancy, while ensuring access to abortion services for the many women who still need them,” says Sharon Camp, president and CEO of Guttmacher, in a statement.

Abortion rates, the Institute found, were lowest in the South and Midwest. Probably not coincidentally, these were the regions in which providers reported the most harassment. And this is the statistic that is most alarming: a vast majority of abortion providers (89%) reported some type of harassment, which is a significant uptick from the 81% who reported the last time the question was asked, about a decade ago. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/433304/study%3A_abortion_decrease_stalls%2C_major_uptick_in_harassment_at_clinics/

[David__77]

1. I am proud to say I am pro-abortion.

It serves an important role in enabling women to exercise their social rights.