Latest Guttmacher Report Slams Door on Democrats' Abortion Increase Myth: Abortions Drop Again in 2001 and 2002.

You may remember the myth that appeared right around the time of the 2004 presidential election, the bizarre claim that abortions had increased under George W. Bush. Turns out not to have been true. It fact, just the opposite occurred.

National Right to Life researched and refuted the report that spawned this urban legend, but that has not stopped Democratic leaders such as Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and DNC Chairman Howard Dean from continuing to promote this urban legend in their effort to confuse pro-lifers and the larger public.

But a new report in May from the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), showing that abortion totals, rates, and ratios all have gone down since 2000, will make it much harder for these politicians to get away with the re-telling of this tall tale.

According to AGI, Planned Parenthood's special research affiliate, there were a total of 30,000 fewer abortions in George W. Bush's first two years of office than there were in Clinton's last year. And that's an accomplishment a pro-life president can be proud of.

Democratic Leaders Promote Myth of Abortion Increase

The myth of the abortion increase under President Bush was largely perpetrated by a California seminary professor, Glen Stassen (see NRL News from November 2004 and February 2005). Stassen looked at limited state abortion figures and projected what he saw as a national increase of 52,000 abortions from 2000 to 2002.

National Right to Life immdiately challenged Stassen's analysis. We noted that he had misread data in a couple of states, failed to consider newer data in other states, and included data from states such as Arizona and Colorado where state officials had cautioned earlier numbers might not be reliable due to changes in the way the incidence of abortion was reported. Looking at the corrected data, NRLC saw an overall decrease, not increase, in abortion amoung the states Stassen analyzed. Nevertheless, those faulty statistics have continued to be repeated in several quarters, most notably among pro-abortion Democrat politicians.