Still true: Only a fraction of abortions done for rape, incest, mother’s health

Ever since the abortion debate began, the American public has been told that abortion is necessary in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother (or health of the baby) is at risk. But information gathered from states that require abortion reporting show that only a tiny fraction of the so-called “hard cases” (out of a million abortions annually in the U.S.) are why women abort. According to the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s former special affiliate and research arm, just “16 states require providers to give some information about the woman’s reason for seeking the procedure.”

Every human life is worthy of protection, and Live Action News has featured numerous stories from courageous women who chose life for their babies conceived in rape, diagnosed with disabilities, or thought to be “incompatible with life.” Tragically, while more and more of these women speak out and testify to the sanctity of each life, the profitable abortion lobby continues to pitch abortion as a solution to any problem a women encounters. And the numbers show it.

Doctors told her abortion was medically necessary

Below is sample from eight of the 16 states which report abortion reasons, recently reviewed by Live Action News:

Arizona: This state only publishes various types of fetal anomalies (for which women chose abortion). In 2016, the state reported that 108 women cited abortions due to fetal medical conditions, a 9.2% decrease from 2015. 

Florida: In 2017, out of 68,935 abortions reported in the state, the majority were performed for “elective” reasons and 16.3% for economic reasons. Emotional reasons accounted for 1.3%, while health reasons, rape or incest were at 1% or below.

Louisiana: In 2017, so-called hard cases made up just 4.5% of abortions (390 out of 8,706), as follows:

• Mental: .70% (Less than one percent)

• Physical: 2.9%

• Fetal anomaly: .41% (Less than one percent)

• Rape/incest: .44%  (Less than one percent)

Minnesota: In 2017, out of 10,177 abortions that took place in the state, 23.6% were for economic reasons while 70.5% said they did not want a child at that time. Unspecified physical health accounted for 6.5%, with fetal anomalies at just 1.7%. Rape and incest accounted for less than 1% of abortions. 

Nebraska: In 2017, the overwhelming majority of abortions performed in the state (52.7%) were because women claimed that no contraception was used, 10% due to “contraception failure,” 4% for economic reasons and 1% for reasons of incest or sexual assault.

Oklahoma: In 2017, out of 4,723 reported abortions, “other” was the top reason, at nearly 11%. There were zero abortions reported for rape or incest.

South Dakota: In 2016, the overwhelming majority of reasons women obtained abortions in the state were because the pregnant mother simply did not desire to have a child (63.8%), with less than 1% for rape or incest.

Utah: In 2016, a majority of abortions (90%) were for therapeutic reasons, 7.4% were elective, while just under 2% were for physical health of mother or baby.

Half of abortion patients in 2014, the last year abortion data was published, admitted they “did not want to be a single parent or were having problems with their husband or partner,” according to Guttmacher. Other reasons women gave included “the inability to afford raising a child,” and the “belief that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents.”

The abortion lobby can no longer continue its deceptive marketing to claim that women “need” abortion on demand for any reason in any trimester of pregnancy. It is past time to focus on better solutions for women than for them to pay to have their children killed in the womb.