Concerned Women for America, in an article about parental notification of minors having abortions, claims that "seventy-five percent of all abortions are performed on girls (sic) between the ages of 12 and 25.
Googling a little bit comes up with 19% as the age percentage of all abortions performed on teenagers. Assuming about a third of those are on 18 & 19 year old legal adults, the true rate of minors having abortions is about 12% of all abortions. But of course, that statistic would not look so impressive. But it would make the article look a little less ridiculous.
Just one of the many “huh?” moments I had with that paper:
My bolding. Um, they aren’t? If a child is **kidnapped **and taken across state lines for an abortion (a likely scenario?) is it not still kidnapping? You can’t just charge someone with kidnapping because you didn’t like where they took them. Kidnapping is kidnapping and a wholly separate issue than abortion.
ETA to add: How hard is it to understand that women’s “reproductive rights” (I love the scare quotes; it tells me they really don’t think women should have those rights.) apply to ALL women that can reproduce, not just the ones they can’t control.
I have a teenage daughter. If she needed an abortion, I hope (and believe) she’d come to me. But if she doesn’t, that’s her decision.
People who support parental consent laws never seem to take into consideration two important issues. Firstly, who is going to be responsible for that baby? It certainly should NOT be the minor who (allegedly) isn’t capable of taking responsibility for herself. Secondly, if parents can forbid abortions, can they also *force *them? Because I’m certain that many parents would prefer that their teenage daughters NOT have babies.
My guesss would be that 75% or more of all pregnancies happen during that same age range.
I couldalso imagine than women older than that might have a HIGHER abortion rate, as the risk of pregnancies and birth defects start to grow for older women. OTOH, I do hear that more and more women are delaying their pregnancies until they are older and better able to cope with the financial burdern. Maybe it’s a wash, I dunno.
I admire the relative restraint of the pro-life crowd. For wouldn’t it be equally factual to say that “seventy-five percent of all abortions are performed on girls (sic) between the ages of 5 and 25”?
Good point. If parents can prevent a girl from having an abortion could/should they also be able to prevent her from giving it up for adoption? If so should the girl be able to just walk away from the baby once she’s 18 and leave grandma & grampa do raise it?
I read an article the other day that stated that Nebraska’s governor is pushing to limit the age of children, to 3 months old or less IIRC, that can be given up under the states Safe Haven Law.
This is what that 22 year old “girl” Eleanor Louise Cowell’s parents did. Thank God they knew she was pregnant and didn’t arrange an abortion. Thank God the world wasn’t deprived of Ted Bundy.
How did you come to the conclusion that “…about a third of those are on 18 & 19 year old legal adults, the true rate of minors having abortions is about 12% of all abortions”?
It’s very hard to find underage abortion statistics. My point is the anti-abortion crowd tosses in legal adults as the “girls” having abortions when they talk about parental notification.
According to this cite, minors had 5% of all the abortions performed in Minnesota in one year. One thing is sure: We ain’t talking no 75% of all abortions requiring parental notification.
Yeah, the 12-25 year old grouping for “girls” is just flat out deceiving. And how many minors, exactly, are transported across state lines for “coerced” abortions? I wonder, though, how accurate this statement is:
We had a ballot initiative in '04 in CA to impose parental notification (or was it approval?) for a minor to get an abortion, and it failed to pass.
