39 Percent Of NYC Pregnancies Result In Abortion

January 7, 2011 1:04 PM

New York Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan at a a press conference in New York on Jan. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Chiaroscuro Foundation, Diane Bondareff)

Filed under

Health, Local, News, NY News

Featured Gallery

Namaste: Yoga Poses For Beginners

For more trusted health

news and information,

visit CBS New York's

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Archbishop Timothy Dolan is calling for efforts to make abortions in New York City “rare.”

Dolan gathered with other religious leaders on Thursday to draw attention to the city’s high abortion rate. The city health department last month released statistics that showed 39 percent of pregnancies ended with induced termination in 2009.

READ THE REPORT HERE.

“I re-affirm Cardinal John O’Connor’s promise of a quarter-century ago that every woman facing a difficult pregnancy will be provided with free, confidential help of the highest quality from the Archdiocese of New York,” said Archbishop Dolan.

While the numbers have declined in the last decade, the religious leaders said they are still too high.

In 2009, there were 225,667 pregnancies in the City with 126,774 resulting in live births and 87,273 resulting in abortions. In addition to those abortion numbers, there were 11,620 spontaneous terminations.

Forty-six percent of all pregnancies in the Bronx result in abortions—the highest among the five boroughs, according to the report.

Blacks had the highest number of abortions with 40,798 with Hispanics having the second highest at 28,364, according to the report.

In response, the Chiaroscuro Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports alternatives to abortion, pledged that it will spend $1 million in 2011 to address the City’s abortion rate—nearly double the national average of 23 percent.

“Like it or not, the legality of abortion is a settled question in New York for the time being,” said Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “That doesn’t mean we have to accept the fact that in parts of the city nearly half of all pregnancies end in abortion.”

Dolan said the practice is unlikely to end but that it was important ‘to tell people what is happening’ and help pregnant women come to terms with their choices.

“We are prepared to do everything in our power to help you and your unborn baby to make absolutely certain that you need never feel that you have no choice but an abortion,” Archbishop Dolan said.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the religious leaders also criticized public schools sex education programs that include condom distribution.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

39 Percent Of NYC Pregnancies Result In Abortion

Liz

I think it’s interesting how people are so quick to want to say “A woman should have the right to choose what she does to, or with her own body” As a justification
for having an abortion. When for one, that would be equivalent to saying “I should be able to rob a bank or kill my neighbor, because I should have the right
to do what I want with my own body” So the first premise is faulty to begin with, Im pretty sure we can all agree that those types of things are NOT okay.
Secondly, the baby “inside” a woman’s body is NOT to be mistaken as “a part of” her body. It’s not up to her to decide who lives and who doesn’t.
That baby is not “her”, it is only residing inside of her. That baby has an entirely different set of DNA.
That’s the point when we start to play God. It’s scary how many people out there are okay with this, I have to agree, it is like a modern day genocide.

Steve

Actually Liz your bank robbing analogy is completely off. An abortion does not effect anyone but the women, a bank robbery effects others. And since the fetus would not surive without taking nutrition from the mother it is literally a part of the mother. The fetus cannot survive on its own, therefore, it is not a “person.”

Debra

A 3 month old can’t survive either if the mother doesn’t feed it. Should the mother be allowed to mutilate her 3 month old?
Rob

Actually Steve, your criticism of Liz’s analogy is completely off. An abortion DOES affect more than just the woman. It affects an unborn child as well. In fact, it affects that unborn child quite a bit more than a bank robbery affects a teller. Also, just because the fetus would not survive without nutrition from the mother does not make it “literally part of the mother”. A newborn baby also would not survive without taking nutrition from it’s mother or caregiver. Children, including the unborn are the most vulnerable among us and should be defended.
Boomer

The baby is a genetically unique individual in an early stage of human life. When you were attached to your mother’s womb, that was you. It was never NOT you. It has ALWAYS been you. You are an individual. You are a person. The baby is a person too. You would never (I hope) say “Let’s kill Grandpa as he’s on a feeding tube after his surgery and is therefore not a person anymore. He’s too expensive for my lifestyle, so go ahead and just stick a vacuum tube in the base of his skull and suck his brains out.” It’s so stupid that even typing it makes my head hurt.

So, as the baby is a person, an individual human being unlike any that has ever been born before on this planet, and abortion is basically murdering that person, more harm is actually done in the abortion than in the bank robbery. In the bank robbery there’s less chance of someone dying, and most of the time the criminal gets caught and punished. In abortion someone always gets murdered and no one pays the price for the murder but the mother (physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually). The abortionist walks away having just murdered an innocent human being.
mike

An infant can’t survive on its own, but you would certainly not use that fact as justification for a woman killing her infant.
Rolyat

Well, Steve, I think we can see what kind of a society you yearn for:
“If you can’t survive on your own, you’re an “it” not a person, and it’s O,K, to kill you.
John

“Actually Liz your bank robbing analogy is completely off. An abortion does not effect anyone but the women”

Seriously? You think that? How about it effects: the unborn, the mother, the doctors who kill the unborn, the mother’s family and friends who will probably feel the brunt of the emotional impact, oh and yes, how about the father of that unborn. The psychological effects on the mother alone are traumatic. If not immediately, later on in life. Less than 1% of abortions are a result of rape/incest. Less than 10% are a result of medical complications. The rest are convenience.
Liz

Actually Steve, my analogy does work. My point was that you cannot do “anything” you want with your body. Having an abortion vs. shooting someone with intent to kill (or robbing a bank, because that is still an act you use your body to do.) And an abortion DOES affect others, or “another”, The child! who is inside of the mother. You know, the one who is actually being aborted!! And where is your supporting evidence for your theory on “The fetus cannot survive on its own, therefore, it is not a “person” ? You can’t prove something is true just by saying it is. So basically by saying “The fetus cannot survive on it’s own, therefore, it is not a “person”. You are presupposing that if a person cannot survive on their own without the help of someone else(say the elderly or the sick) than they cant be classified as a “person”? Just because they need assistance or need tubes to feed them nutrition, just like a “fetus” needs nutrition from it’s mother, does not in any way make them “unhuman”.
Liz

Actually Steve, my analogy does work. My point was that you cannot do “anything” you want with your body. Having an abortion vs. shooting someone with intent to kill (or I used earlier, robbing a bank, which i used as an example of one way we use our bodies, which is not okay. Not in all cases is there murder, but it is still a crime none the less) Are one in the same. Someone is murdered in both cases. And an abortion DOES affect others, or “another”, The child! who is inside of the mother. You know, the one who is actually being aborted AKA Murdered! And where is your supporting evidence for your theory on “The fetus cannot survive on its own, therefore, it is not a “person” ? You can’t prove something is true just by saying it is. So basically by saying “The fetus cannot survive on it’s own, therefore, it is not a “person”. You are presupposing that if a person cannot survive on their own without the help of someone else or something else(say the elderly or the sick)like someone who needs nutrients outside of their own body to keep healthy (which we all need from food, and without it we too could not survive) than they/we cant be classified as a “person”? A child inside the mother’s womb needs nutrition yes, and depends on it’s mother for survival,just the same way you or I depend on food and water for survival. So then are we all “unhuman”?

mike311

that would be a lot of unwanted kids out there, lets ban abortion, im sure thats great for society.

Stephen

So those kids, as unwanted as they are, don’t have a right to life? Really? What makes you and your right to life better than those unwanted kids’ right to life? Is it because some how, you’re better than they are?

Doug

These are unwanted children. How cruel can you all be that want to ban abortion and leave these babies to lead neglected lives? Maybe the Church should endorse birth control? These mothers are going to continue to attempt pro-creation with these results. It’s a shame, but it’s reality.

Ryan Edision

First, enough the with zealots on both sides. Not all New Yorker’s are ideologues, were mostly pragmatic, so if you want to bring abortions to a minimum put men in jail that do not step up and take care of their children, act like men for god sake. Second, Catholic Church, don’t say you want to stop abortions and condemn the distribution of condoms in the same sentence, it’s counterproductive. But hey if we wanna argue about morality and liberty I guess the debate will never end while abortions keep happening.

Riley Smiley

Check the demographic of those women who choose to abort, most of them are Progressives and minorities, the Democratic base.
Red Ruffansore

Noo Yackers are too stupid to reproduce, it should be 100% That liberal gene pool needs to be flushed.
Jimmy Guy Tucker

Whoever said that there is no evil, should visit the graves of these murdered children. Wait they are not buried, they’re thrown in the garbage. Some said the Nazis were pure evil…..
ActionJunkie

Religion aside, this is MURDER. Tragic the steps people will take to make “their lives easier.”
bing

Your mother was pro-life

Doug

no, pro-choice. she chose to have me. she chose that way because she could afford to care for me and love me. i respect women that make the choice to abort when they cannot care for their children.

Tim

It amazes me that religious leaders can gripe about abortions and condom distribution at the same time.

touks

Well, OBVIOUSLY the condom distribution program is a DISMAL FAILURE, wouldn’t you agree??? If not, you’re on Mars. You have to be SMART ENOUGH to put the condom ON (before sex, dear child) for it to prevent pregnancy. Handing out condoms does nothing for the pregnancy rate except make it higher. It’s called “job security” and “profitability” for certain kinds of clinics.
tom

The percentage of condom failure is around 17%, so out of 100 uses you’d likely have 17 children created as the outcome…most of which would be terminated through abortion. Condom distribution is not the answer.

Tom

So, theorehtically, 83 pregnancioes were avoided. Is that correct? That’s a pretty good start.

kimdi01

Just who is paying for these abortions? Could it be the taxpayers? I know that docotrs are not doing them pro bono.

mike

So woman should have the right to kill their born infants? Is that your opinion?

Shaune

Here’s hoping that all those NYC liberals abort themselves out of existence! It would make life so much better for the rest of us!
boston234

Would love to see the demographics on this.
Robert

Liberals love their abortions because the practice slows the growth of the minority population and they will even argue that the abortion of babies of African descent keeps crime down. That along with imprisonment of African males for crimes that white males are slapped on the wrist for. These same lily white elites (or their surrogates like Obama) will cry for social justice for “minorities” but they themselves live in economically (racially) segregated areas, attend segregated schools and universities, and are given “jobs” by their parents or connected friends. Abortion has helped keep Africans in the minority and helped to promote liberal white power.
Chet K.

In my NYC dating days, I was astounded by how many women I came across for whom abortion was a casual thing, just this side of Plan A. These were white educated professional women, ever so liberated, with no apparent concern for the fact that they were killing their own children for the sake of social concerns. I believe that the statistics would suprprise you in that regard.
Mike

Criticize them all you want but until you are willing to pay for their children, time and resources that they might not even have to dedicate to them, you don’t get a say. Sorry. Not your decision.

Kellyn

How about they keep their legs crossed?
Shelton

There are years long waiting lists for infant adoption in every state. People are clamoring to take these children in, they are desperate to give their time, money, resources, and love to these kids. They usually end up spending around 25K in adoption fees to travel to the other side of the world to get a child since there are so few up for adoption here.

Yours is a false argument.

mike

You mean there are so few white babies.

Let’s be honest here, and straightforward. There is no shortage of latino or black children for adoption. But white people sure as hell are willing to go overseas to avoid having a black baby in their family.

Stephen

I will continue to criticize them because they are putting their comfort over the life of an innocent child. They could have given their child up for adoption instead of killing them.

Falcon78 in Northern Virginia

An abortion is the murder of a human being–just like yourself. The baby inside a mother’s womb is a human person from the time it is conceived. May God have mercy on this country for it’s sinful ways.
Oak Park Lefty

If you’ve got the strength to swallow a watermellon seed, you’ve got enough to take the pill.
Doug Glass

They can make this claim because they have access to ALL pregnancies. Yeah right. Just another loud mouthed pseudo expert making claims for which there is no valid supporting data.
WeThePeople

Abortion IS the Publicly anointed Death Panel.

It is “Beginning of Life” counseling.
Taken to it’s most extreme end, It is a service to the State which lowers the burden of support (medical, financial, social, etc).

Socialists do not look at the individual as people. They cannot see the forest for the trees.
Their concern is the impact on society. One more mouth to feed, clothe, care for, and support in old age.

Sad, very sad. 4 out of 10 persons murdered at birth. And we call the radical Islamics Terrorists!
beenaroundyaknow

Part of the Liberal “abortions should be few and infrequent” policy but we can’t deny a woman’s right to choose. Such hypocracy.

Mike

In MHO the act of sex is to procreate, so if a woman and man choose to do this act they should accept the consequences. theres thousands of adoption agencies and other places to get help why should your first choice be to kill it? I think a womans choice is the choice to choose to say yes or no to having sex.

bill

Agreed
Tom

Agree 100%. Choice starts at sexual contact. Do I engage in sex that could result in a pregnancy or not? Once you take that risk, you’ve made your CHOICE!
mike

So you guys have never once had intercourse for reasons other than reproduction?
What boring lives. How sad.
Tom

Yeah, Mike, I’ve had intercourse for reason’s other than to make a baby. I use or used protection to avoid an unwanted or accidental pregnancy. If you don’t have access to birth control, don’t have intercourse because you know what your risking. There’s also specific times of the month where intercourse is pretty safe.

How old are you, Mike. Does this really need to be explained?

Mike

Woe unto them that call good evil and evil good… Isaiah 5.20 NYC needs to repent and seek God quickly.
phil christe

How many are repeat abortions? How many are on black women? I bet the numbers would startle most people. Last time I checked health dept stats, the abortion rate, measured in per 1000 births was 1100 for black women.
90%, I bet, paid for by medicaid and performed by Planned Parenthood.
You might call this state sponsored genocide.

Jason

110%? When was the last time you checked health dept stats?

Stephen

Ausett31

Phil Christie, which year are you basing your stats on? Is the stat based on NYC or the nation? I have seen no such stat to support your comment and your opinion that 90% of these abortions were financed by Medicaid and Planned Parent Hood. Also, Black women were not in the fore front to legalize abortion, it was white women.
cjs

i am a retired obgyn and i promise you, medicaid doesnt pay for abortion except in the case of life or death issues with the mother. abortions are paid for with cash.

joseph

Medicaid will pay for services ancillary to the abortion, such as an ultrasound exam. So, abortion is funded by your tax dollars.

stevens

41% is an astounding percetage! NYC is a modern day Gommorah.
Rob in San Fran

When do we get those death panels I voted for?
Borrowed Time

Convenience abortions:what a tragedy. So many hugs, smiles, “I love you”s left cold.
leslie

Liberals love their abortions. That’s the one and only thing they will stand and defend. Oh war is bad, terriosts need rights, they want to decide how you live your life. But never and I mean never tell them they can’t kill their babies.

Tim

Oh yeah, I can just picture those crazy liberals laughing and partying their way to the abortion clinic. Or maybe, it pains them to make such a decision, but not without having considered the deep impacts that having a child would have on their lives. You see, Leslie, we live in a free country where people have reproductive rights, unlike the imaginary land of dogmatic, theocratic fascism that you’d prefer to dwell. So the real tragedy is not allowing abortions, but rather having to put up with people like you who can’t think past the tip of their own nose, and instead find it easier to condemn and ridicule without so much as a thought about the situation a person may find themselves in.

ProgressiveTexan

Thank you for articulating this so perfectly.
lj

You are one selfish human being. Sorry the dead child got in the way of your “reproductive rights”. Sorry, but the REAL TRAGEDY is the dead baby, not that someone wants to remind you of that fact.
mike

You are premising that the “fetus’ is not a human life, therefore it can be disposed of like an unwanted skin growth.

This is your conceptual error:

The so called fetus is a human life in the process of being formed. It is a stage in the development of a human being. You were at that stage of development at one time, as was your mom, dad, and everyone else that you love.

You were one of the lucky “fetuses” that were not destroyed in the womb.
Bohoco

Tim, I can tell you who knows all about the situations that people find themselves in. They work in crisis pregnancy centers and they have heard every story there is to hear. They know a human life, created in God’s image, is of more worth any temporary solution to their very feel problems. And they are available to help anyone give life to their child. No one else can give that child life, but many would love to give it a good home. I believe that is thinking beyond the nose as you say.
twoiron

Tim,
Reproductive rights exist up to the point unprotected vaginal intercourse begins. At the point of conception, those rights give way to the right of the unborn baby to live. Call it dogmatic, theocratic fascism if you like, but don’t be upset when I call abortion the willful murder of a totally innocent and defenseless unborn child. Intercourse is the opportunity that a man and a woman have to participate in the creation of a new life. I guess the fact that Liberals don’t seem to understand where babies come from (i.e., having unprotected sex) is not just a tired old joke.
rvastar

[You see, Leslie, we live in a free country where people have reproductive rights, unlike the imaginary land of dogmatic, theocratic fascism that you’d prefer to dwell.]

What about the right to life of the human being that’s being aborted, Tim? And before you start the standard Leftist mantra about “it’s not a human being, it’s just a bunch of cells”, a few questions…

Are you a human being? Yes.

What makes you a human being? The DNA that you received from your mother and your father.

When did your mother and father’s DNA combine to create “you”? At the moment of conception.

Would it be possible for you to be alive now without the combination of your mother and father’s DNA? No.

Were you alive BEFORE your mother and father’s DNA combined? No.

So, Tim, if your life didn’t begin at conception, 1) how did you receive your father’s DNA and 2) how are you alive now?
Tom

Tim
Liberals, progressives, and femminists no where babies come from and how they are made, they just don’t believe in personal responsibility. It’s really a selfish, self-righteous kind of attitude.
Tim

Funny how none of you seem to mention the life of a child after it’s born. All of you foam at the mouth over the thought of terminating an embryonic pregnancy. But, should that baby be born to a single mother, then the two of them are instantly labelled “drains on society”, and then you zealots gripe and moan about having to pay a single penny into a welfare system funded by taxpayer dollars. You people are disgusting hypocrites! Go cry your river of tears to someone else!

Thankfully, Roe v. Wade has settled this matter, and we don’t have to live in your land of religious fascism. Freedom and democracy wins in America! Hooray! So, GFY!!
Tom

Yeah, Tim.
What about “freedom”? What about those inalieable rights endowed by our creator, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursiut of Happiness”.

Where does abortion fit in there? Your a fool. You’re probably an athiest too. (and a femminist)
rvastar

[Funny how none of you seem to mention the life of a child after it’s born.]

So to avoid a life hardship for a child, the kind thing to do is to kill it.

Very progressive of you.

[All of you foam at the mouth over the thought of terminating an embryonic pregnancy. But, should that baby be born to a single mother, then the two of them are instantly labelled “drains on society”, and then you zealots gripe and moan about having to pay a single penny into a welfare system funded by taxpayer dollars.]

Please give us your logical explanation as to why the able-bodied single mother of the child should be EXCUSED from responsibility for providing for said child, yet taxpayers should be SADDLED with that responsibility. IOW: what right does she have – or her child have, for that matter – to money that they didn’t earn?

[You people are disgusting hypocrites! Go cry your river of tears to someone else!]

Ad hominem insults from a Leftist. How shocking.

[Thankfully, Roe v. Wade has settled this matter, and we don’t have to live in your land of religious fascism.]

Actually, there are plenty of very liberal legal scholars who believe that Roe v. Wade is bad law and subject to repeal in the future. So stay tuned

As for your obvious hatred of religious people, I’ll simply remind you of the FACT that the most murderous group of people in human history – BY FAR – were not Christians, Jews, or Muslims…they were your ATHEIST bretheren in the Soviet Union and China.

Have a nice day living in your ignorance
Mic

Of the approx. 50 million abortions since 1973, about 25 million or so would be adults now, working and paying into the system that is so far in debt . The Social Security system would be balanced if we had 25 million more workers in this country. Just think of the great men and women of America that never were, just because their mother didn’t want to be bothered with a baby. What if Henry Ford had been aborted? What is Albert Einstein was aborted? You just never will know (or maybe we will!) how great this country could have been if it weren’t for the scourge of abortion. Aren’t you glad your mother chose life? God will not be mocked, there will be a reckoning for the blood of the innocents cries out to Him from the ground!
Tom

Well said, Rvastar! Tim is a fool.
rvastar

[Well said, Rvastar! Tim is a fool.]

Here’s a quote that sums up people like Tim perfectly:

“Marxism [and all its offshoots - i.e. socialism, progressivism, etc.] is intellectualism for stupid people.” – Moe Lane
Tim

Roe v. Wade! Thanks for playing!
rvastar

[Roe v. Wade! Thanks for playing!]

And may Leftists such as yourself continue taking full advantage of it. After all, it’s bringing about results such as this:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-1222-redistricting-census-updat20101221,0,7067155.story

…and this:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/128036/New-Normal-Abortion-Americans-Pro-Life.aspx

Tick-tock, tick-tock…