Numbers Never Lie

The problem is that you can get numbers to say whatever you want them to say. Such appears to be the case with the latest news on how "family planning" programs somehow reduce the number of abortions.

Let's look beyond the fact that contraceptive pills are abortifacients, and limit ourselves to a few items from LifeSite on this.

Last year, officials in Sweden reported that the number of abortions increased 17 percent in Sweden from 2000 to 2007 despite sales of the morning after pill increasing during the same time period.

Meanwhile, last year the number of abortions in Scotland rose for the third straight year despite a heavy push for women to use the morning after pill. Abortions in Scotland rose four percent according to a report from the British National Health Service and now number 13,703. That increase cameafter NHS reported 13,081 abortions in 2006, up from 12,603 the previous year -- an increase of nearly 3.8 percent.

Finally, a report from Planned Parenthood of Western Washington shows abortions are on the rise in Washington state even though it participated in Washington state’s Take Charge pilot program. Take Charge is a Medicaid section 1115 Waiver program initiated in 2001 to provide free contraceptives to low-income women not already covered under Medicaid. It was originally funded for five years in 2001, then extended for three more years, and comes up for renewal in 2009. Yet the PPWW annual report indicates abortions rose 16 percent from 7,790 in 2006 to 9,059 in 2007.

There's more, but you get the idea. The culture of death begets death. It's as simple as that.