Planned Parenthood contraception services prevent abortions
The number of abortions in the United States has decreased greatly since 1990, and the rate of abortions for women aged from 15 to 44 has declined since the early 1980s.
As The Economist recently pointed out, however, while the rate of abortion for relatively affluent women in this country has dropped by nearly 30 percent during the last 20 years, the rate for women with low incomes has climbed by nearly 20 percent during the same period.
Planned Parenthood is a major source of assistance for women with low incomes who seek contraception. Three fourths of the women who came to Planned Parenthood clinics for contraception in 2013 were in poverty or close to it.
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine said, “The contraception services that Planned Parenthood delivers may be the single greatest effort to prevent the unwanted pregnancies that result in abortions.”
No federal funding pays for abortions in Planned Parenthood clinics. Federal assistance does help to pay for those clinics’ education programs, screenings for breast cancer, and tests for sexually transmitted diseases.
Without Planned Parenthood, who would provide such services, and who would help to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies?
Alfred Evans, Fresno
This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 10:32 AM with the headline "Planned Parenthood contraception services prevent abortions."