Guttmacher Institute abortion report reveals shoddy methodology and anti-life agenda

A study published by the Guttmacher Institute suggests that abortion has reached its lowest point since 1973. Unfortunately, the study raises more questions than it purports to answer because the Institute's methods and motives make the results suspect. In addition, the Institute has an anti-life agenda. Despite these obvious shortcomings, the study is receiving a large quantity of media attention.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were less than 17 abortions for every 1,000 women in 2011. The figure is down approximately 13% from 2008, and nearly half of what it was in 1980 when the greatest number of abortions were recorded at almost 30 per 1,000 women.

In fact, the number reported by the Institute is just slightly higher than the 16.3 abortions that took place for every 1,000 women in 1973 in the wake of Roe v. Wade.

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Unfortunately, the Guttmacher Institute has a glaring anti-life agenda. The Institute is infamously known to be a front organization for Planned Parenthood. As such, the statistics are naturally suspect.

The Guttamcher Institute only credits contraceptives and the relative ease of their availability as the reason why these numbers have dropped. They also claim that the decline in the abortion rate is not connected to a bevy of laws passed in recent years outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. Nor do they acknowledge the closures of clinics that have been ruled unsafe for mothers seeking abortion, under the law.

The Institute also insists that "back-alley" abortions still occur in unknown numbers.

When you consider the whopping claims, that the law has no impact on the abortion rate, and that there must be an epidemic of back-alley abortions continuing today, the agenda of the Guttmacher Institute becomes blatant. So while any decrease in abortions may be cause to celebrate, the decrease reported by Guttmacher Institute actually means it's time to double down on every effective pro-life effort.

The Guttmacher Institute would like to see the repeal of laws that are designed to protect mothers who seek abortions, and they are also in favor of mass expansion of access to contraceptives, including for underage girls. They refer to this pushing as "choice."

The reality is still quite grim. Despite some successes on the pro-life front, abortion is still legal in all 50 states, forty years after Roe v. Wade. Additionally, one abortion per 1,000 women is one abortion too many. If the figure is truly at 16.9 per 1,000 women, that is still 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women to many.

Perhaps the most accurate way to look at this, is that for every 1,000 pregnant women, at least 17 babies are still murdered within the womb.

And the explosion of contraceptives, including abortifacients, is also leading to an unknown number of abortions, which go unreported. Oftentimes, the mothers who are taking these drugs have no idea they may also be poisoning their newly-conceived babies.

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Finally, there's the issue of all the children who cannot be conceived because sexually active men and women are using contraceptive devices to interfere with God's loving plan for all people.

Ultimately, while the statistics may receive wide acclaim in the media, we must view them as suspicious given the blatant agenda and poor methodology of the Guttmacher Institute.

It is not time for us to ease up on the fight against legalized procured abortion in this country. Instead, it is time for us to redouble our efforts and to possibly conduct a better study so that all Americans learn the truth about abortion, rather than those lines peddled by anti-life extremists.

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