The Gantry Launchpad

I'm amazed. Floored. Damn near speechless.

The complete lack of logic in blaming America's abortion rate on "social conservatives" induces a terrible sense of awe in those of use who can actually engage our brains in useful work.

Mr. Demmons, just for starters: you do realize the basic ethos, moral code, and expectations of "social conservatives" were the norm for this country for (oh...) several centuries, yes?

You do realize that -for many, many decades- there wasn't any question of the high rate of abortions in this country, because it was bloody illegal? You are aware of that? And that those laws were based on the "social conservative" ethos. Not to mention those same "social conservative[s]" opposed the legalization of abortion.

Yet somehow, in some odd way, the people who are against abortion the most are the ones getting the blame. Odd, that... One wonders if the author actually thought their way through the proposition, or merely spilled some some dogmatic beliefs into the blogosphere.

Some numbers might be in order. The CDC itself says that abortion rates steadily increased between 1970 and 1984 (you know, when the Democrats controlled the federal government most of the time, and lead prevailing thought regarding the anti-war movement, women's rights, gay rights, and so on.

After 1984, the rate has steadily decreased, while Republicans (one certainly tends to equate "social conservatives" with the GOP), falling from 364/1,000 in 1984 to 311 in 1995, and down to 246 in 2000. In other words, when the social conservatives steadily gained ground in Washington, D.C. and the national culture became more conservative, the rate of abortion decreased.

An examination of the tables by state show that generally the highest abortion rates are in areas that are strongly Democratic, such as New York (30/1,000), District of Columbia (25), Washington (20), New Jersey (18), and Oregon (18). Alabama stands at 12, Oklahoma at 10, and Idaho a paltry 6. Yet it's still the fault of those darned "social conservatives!"

Several folks have compared the abortion rate in America to Amsterdam, accompanied by a corresponding sneer. Yes, and the murder rate in Nazi Germany was lower than that in the United States. I suppose that means the National Socialists developed a less violent culture in 1930s Germany...

If you look carefully, you'll see that the CDC has managed to confuse things by only differentiating by race (white and black/other) in one table, and by "ethnicity" (hispanic and non/hispanic) in another table.

This obscures the fact that abortion rates are much, much higher for both hispanic and black women, compared to white, non/hispanic women.

So maybe all those morally superior, condescending ...people... comparing the abortion rate in America to Amsterdam should examine those groups and locations with very high rates, and attempt an effective generalization on just why said rates are so high.

Damned inconvenient things, facts. They really should be used more often.