St. Paul, MN - The number of abortions in Minnesota dropped to a 30-year low in the first full year after the state passed a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions.
Abortion opponents and supporters of legalized abortion disagreed Tuesday whether the decline could be attributed to the waiting period. The law, which supporters call Women's Right to Know, requires that women receive specific information from their doctor before an abortion.
The number of abortions in 2004 dipped to 13,788, the lowest level since 1975, the first year the state Health Department started tallying the numbers. The department has been reporting annual abortion figures to the Legislature for the past five years.
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Since July 2003, state law requires doctors to give women who seek abortions information about medical risks, gestational age of the unborn child, potential fetal pain, subsidized health coverage for childbirth and prenatal and infant care, and child support laws.
I've had great discussions about abortion waiting periods before when Georgia passed similar legislation. I just don't see how such legislation can be opposed with any passion! Clinton, the hero to many democrats (partially because he's been the only democrat to win significant election in recent history... but that's another discussion!), made the now-infamous statement that he wanted to see abortions "safe, legal, and rare." This legislation appears to have done exactly that, to some extent anyway.
This is also an area of the abortion issue in which democrats allow themselves to be painted into a corner in which they appear to be PRO-abortion, rather than pro-choice. And believe me, there is a difference! A great number of people in this country look at democrats and see someone who could care less what happens to unborn children. While this most certainly describes some prominent figures, to many democrats this is unfair. But they do themselves in on issues such as this one where they stand for unlimited, unregulated abortion.