Wisconsin’s abortion rate declines for third straight year

BY SCOTT BAUER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER and KENOSHA NEWS STAFF

    MADISON — Activists on both sides of the abortion debate took credit Monday for a new report that shows the number of women who had the procedure in 2006 was down for the third straight year and at the lowest level on record.

    There were 9,580 abortions in Wisconsin last year, the lowest number since the state started tracking them in 1974, according to the report by the Department of Health and Family Services.

    Locally, Kenosha County’s abortion rate for females ages 15 to 44 dropped from 13.9 per 1,000 in 1997 to 6.0 per 1,000 in 2006, a 57 percent decrease.

    The teen abortion rate for females ages 15 to 19, calculated in a local Teen Pregnancy Report prepared by Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services using the number of teen abortions from the state report, decreased from 23.5 per 1,000 in 1997 to 8.1 per 1,000 in 2006, a 66 percent decrease.

    “The decline of the teen abortion rate along with a similar decline in the teen birth rate indicates that Kenosha County teens are making more responsible choices regarding their sexual behavior,” said Gary Brown, executive director of Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc.

    The county’s teen birth rate for females ages 15 to 19 dropped from 48.3 per 1,000 in 1997 to 32.0 per 1,000 in 2005, a 34 percent decrease, Brown said.

    Sue Armacost, legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, said she was “absolutely ecstatic” that the numbers continued to decline.

    “Of course, the number of abortions being performed is too many,” she said. “We’ll always think so until there are no abortions, but we are making progress.”

    She attributed the decline to more young people being opposed to abortion, an education effort launched by abortion opponents and laws that have helped reduce the number of abortions.

    In particular, Armacost singled out a 1996 law that requires women who are seeking an abortion to receive a variety of information about their pregnancy and wait at least 24 hours before the procedure can be done.

    But Lisa Boyce, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said greater access to affordable birth control and information about family planning reduced the number of abortions, not efforts by abortion foes.

    Pregnancy rates among young people are declining because they have better information about how to protect themselves, Boyce said.

    “Certainly we’re pleased to see that Wisconsin’s abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since abortion was legalized,” she said. “If you’re opposed to abortion, clearly by now you should see the value in improving women’s access to birth control.”

    Wisconsin’s estimated rate of abortion — 8 per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 — remained the same as last year and nearly half the national rate of 15 per 1,000. That figure, taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was from 2003, the most recent year available.