NEW JERSEY RIGHT TO LIFE
113 NORTH AVENUE WEST
CRANFORD, NJ 07016
For Immediate Release
Contact Marie Tasy
Public & Legislative Affairs Director (732) 846-2000
Latest NJ Abortion Statistics: A Call for Action
March 4, 2004
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research group backing abortion, released their latest state-by-state statistics of teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in 2000 on February 19. The data released showed some alarming facts for NJ.
Abortion rates were highest in New Jersey, with 47 abortions per 1,000 women 15 to 19, followed by New York, with 46 per 1,000; the Connecticut rate was 30 per 1,000. New Jersey also had the highest pregnancy rates among black teenagers, 209 per 1,000; the rate was 167 per 1,000 in New York and not available in Connecticut. New Jersey had the highest percentage of teenage abortions, 60 percent, with New York at 58 percent and Connecticut at 49 percent.
NJ also had the highest abortion rates among black teens (116 per 1,000) and the second highest for Hispanic teens (43 per 1,000 women) in the nation.
Stanley K. Henshaw, a senior fellow at Alan Guttmacher institute, attributed the increase in black women's abortions to the withdrawal of Norplant, a contraceptive implant, after lawsuits resulted from its use. Henshaw said Norplant was popular with black teenage women who had one child, a group also more likely to end a pregnancy through abortion. (NY Times, 02/20/04.)
Last year, the McGreevey administration provided $4,180,000 in taxpayer funds in the state budget to groups that promote abortion. This is an increase of $180,000 from the previous year.
Marie Tasy, Public & Legislative Affairs Director for New Jersey Right to Life, the state's largest pro-life organization, said this is an outrage. "The abortion industry is laughing all the way to the bank. Through their collusion with activist courts to undermine the will of the people and usurp legislative and parental authority they bear full responsibility for the teen abortion epidemic in NJ. These shameful statistics underscore the pressing need for a Parental Notification Constitutional Amendment to be passed on the state level and for Congress to take up the Federal Child Custody Protection Act without delay. "Funding should also be cut from the state budget for family planning services since these groups are using taxpayer money to promote their abortion on demand agenda which has placed the lives and health of NJ's children at risk. To keep throwing more money at programs that have demonstrably failed our children and families is an irresponsible and shameful misuse of taxpayer's hard earned dollars," said Tasy.
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