Life Links 6/21/12

At the Atlantic, Richard Florida discusses the Geography of Abortion in the U.S. A lot of it shows how incredibly wrong pro-choicers are when they act like prolife policies do nothing to effect the abortion rate(my emphasis).

First and foremost, the geography of abortion follows the red and blue political patterning of the states. It is positively associated with the share of state voters who voted for Obama in 2008 (.60 to .65) and negatively associated with McCain votes (-.58 to -.63). This is a dramatic change from 1974-1988, the period covered by the 1994 NBER study, which found that "extensive Republican or Democratic control in a state is uncorrelated with abortion rates."
...........
Abortion is most strongly associated with the fault-line of socio-economic class, across three key dimensions—income, education, and occupation. Abortion rates track closely with the wealth and affluence of states: the richer the location, the higher the rate of abortions (the correlations between the two range from .53 to .65). This effect is in line with previous studies and thus appears to be of long standing.

Planned Parenthood is no longer planning on turning a property they purchased in Auburn Hills, Michigan into an abortion clinic.

The proposed clinic was a source of tension in the community, with groups opposed to abortion conducting several protests at the site because they believed the procedure would be conducted there.

The group hadn't determined what services would be offered at the clinic, said Desiree Cooper, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan.

"We do not offer all of our services at all of our health centers. It just depends on the community and the need, and we hadn't made that assessment," she said.

Yeah, except the Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan president said a long time ago that Planned Parenthood was planning to provide abortions there.


Live Action released another video showing two abortion clinics in North Carolina willing to perform sex-selection abortions.

The local Planned Parenthood caught on tape has issued a statement from the national office. No word on whether the employee was fired or not.


The Detroit News has a lackluster editorial which attempts to argue that providing regulations on the abortion industry is bad because it would make abortions "needlessly costly and cumbersome." The editorial claims abortion clinic regulations aren't need because "Physicians already are personally licensed by the state and have to adhere to professional standards governing their treatment decisions. A state medical board will suspend or strip a doctor's license if he or she violates the standards."

Later, it notes a report which showed a number of abortionists who have violated basic medical standards and are still licensed but claims new regulations aren't need because "weeding out bad actors through heightened surveillance and enforcement of laws on the books would be a better approach than onerous new restrictions that discourage good doctors from providing the service. Perhaps the state's enforcement division needs more inspectors."