Abortions in Ohio Hit All-Time Low Last Year: 5,000 Pregnancies Terminated Legally In Hamilton County

Ohio Health Department County Stats

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- State health statistics show there were 28,721 abortions performed in Ohio in 2009, the lowest number since the 1980s when records began to be kept.  Ohio Right to Life said there has been a 40% decline in pregnancy terminations over the decades, and that the downward trend has been consistent and steady since the year 2000.  Still, the Ohio Department of Health's annual report contained some disturbing data.  There were 190 girls under age 15 who had abortions last year.  Were they sexually active or victims of child molesters?  The report does not offer any clues.  Overall, 18% of Ohio abortions involved women under the of 20; 83% were single and 41% were African American.  Said Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Mike Gonidakis, whose organization has posted the state health department's annual report:

"We are winning the fight against those who push abortion as the first and sometimes only choice for women in crisis.  We continue to witness a trend of Ohioans moving towards a firm respect for life.  One of the reasons for the continued decline in abortions has been the enactment of new laws which help young women make positive decisions for themselves and their babies.  Whenever you have even the slightest legislative gain that protects women and defends her baby, it will make a difference.” 

The Ohio Right to Life press release is available here. The full text of the Ohio Health Department's report on Ohio abortions in 2009 is accessible by clicking here. The documents contains data going back to 1997. Reaction to the numbers has been muted. Right Ohio blogger Matt Naugle said, "Any abortion is horrendous and an act of murder," but he was first to publish the numbers and noted the decline. On the Democratic left, Plunderbund called the declining number a positive development:

"The reduction in the number of abortions in Ohio IS good news and providing women with as much information as possible and as many options as possible SHOULD be everyone’s goal. That’s because we all have the same goal: reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in Ohio. And, based on the statistics, that has been happening, and happening rather quickly in the past few years."

Scott Brown Is A Pro-Choice Republican: New Senator-Elect Is Minority In GOP Caucus

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The national right-to-life movement based in SW Ohio isn't overjoyed. As the 41st GOP vote in the Senate, Brown won't be in the Republican ranks that seek to repeal Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that struck down state laws prohibiting abortions in the United States. He made his position clear on his Senate campaign issues page. Brown called abortion a decision that "should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor." He is out of step with evangelical and conservative GOP orthodoxy. In time, Brown may come to be seen as the Joe Lieberman of the Republicans.

http://www.brownforussenate.com/issues

That link will probably expire soon. But this is what appears on Brown for Senate in January 2010:

"Abortion
"While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America. I believe government has the responsibility to regulate in this area and I support parental consent and notification requirements and I oppose partial birth abortion. I also believe there are people of good will on both sides of the issue and we ought to work together to support and promote adoption as an alternative to abortion."

OH-O2: Dem Vic Wulsin 'Witnessed' Women's Deaths From So-Called Coathanger Abortions

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Vic Wulsin is a pro-choice public health physician who is seeking renomination as the Democratic candidate in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, a seat now held by right-to-lifer U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt. There are two other Republicans who are interested in the southern Ohio House seat -- Phil Heimlich, who has already announced he will oppose Schmidt in the GOP primary, and State Rep. Tom Brinkman, who is considering a run.

Brinkman has introduced bills to ban abortion in Ohio -- he wants the state to actively challenge Roe v. Wade by resuming a constitutional court battle over legalized abortion. Heimlich is also a pro-lifer, but perhaps not as militant as Brinkman.

Wulsin, a Harvard-educated doctor, says she has actually "witnessed" deaths caused by infection and bleeding after "self-inflicted" abortions. None were in the United States, and she says her medical skills were overwhelmed by the trauma.

"I have practiced medicine in countries such as El Salvador, Venezuela, and Kenya, where abortion is not legal, and I have witnessed the death of women -- and girls -- who I could not save because their self-inflicted bleeding or infections were too far-advanced. Criminalizing abortion will not stop it but does endanger the lives of both mother and child."

Venezuela has been one of the toughest places in the world to obtain an abortion, and El Salvador's anti-abortion prohibitions are described as the strictest enacted by any nation.

Wulsin's statement that she has seen horrible things in these Latin American counties is powerful. But she should not leave a shred of doubt. She must back up her account by adding details -- where, when, whom you were with. Fill in blanks by naming a community or a hospital. Wulsin should make her case so absolutely airtight that people can have no possible way to doubt or question.

Wulsin's words relate back to the way they say it used to be here in the United States in the era before Roe v. Wade, an era of back alley abortions and bent coat hangers that were blamed for bleeding, infection and death. Wulsin has justified her support for abortion rights because she says she has seen with her own eyes what happens to women who take desperate measures, who have no other legal option to terminate a pregnancy.

But please, Dr. Wulsin, give us the proof.