WV Abortion Numbers Drop

Last month, the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health released abortion data for 2005. According to the report, the number of abortions in West Virginia dropped nearly 14% in 2005. In 2004, there were 1,945 abortions performed in West Virginia. In 2005, there were 1,674.

The drop in the number of abortions is attributable to the passage of the Women’s Right to Know bill. West Virginians for Life supported the Women's Right to Know Act for this very reason. Passing pro-life legislation saves lives. In 2005, 271 babies were saved. Every year, hundreds of babies will live that otherwise would have died a brutal death. The bill was passed by the Legislature in 2003 but was not implemented until the Manchin Administration took over in 2005.

The Women's Right to Know bill requires abortionists to provide a woman or girl seeking abortion with medically accurate information regarding the development of her unborn child, the risks of abortion and alternatives to abortion. The Department of Health and Human Resources also posts the information on it’’s website, www.wvdhhr.org/wrtk.

Statistics from other states have shown a similar drop in abortion rates when such laws are enacted. Women’’s Right to Know laws are in effect in 22 states.

The pro-abortion group WV Free claimed that the drop was the result of family planning programs. However, a closer look at other data also released by the Bureau reveals otherwise. The number of women who became pregnant remained essentially the same.

Most unplanned pregnancies end with the birth of the child and not an abortion. Had the decline in the abortion rate been the result of birth control, there would have also been a corresponding drop in the number of pregnancies. However, that was not the case. Only the abortion rate changed.

Despite the good news, there is still work to be done. Abortion is the leading cause of death of our state's children, killing three times more children in West Virginia than all other causes combined. Only heart disease and cancer claimed the lives of more West Virginians. Over all, abortion is the third leading cause of death in the state.

Passage of a true Parent's Right to Know law and limiting the tax funding of abortion will also significantly reduce abortion rates.

In the 2008 Legislative Session, West Virginians for Life will seek the passage of these two important pieces of pro-life legislation.