"Papa Jack" <papajack@stic.net> wrote in message
news:6f9e1b49.0310010329.43884af4@posting.google.com...

Elmo <elmo3321@yahoo.com> wrote in message

The truth is it has been going down because the economy was doing well.
You can be certain that as the Republicans continue to sell out the
people of this country abortions will increase.

This news is due to the Clinton Economy.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

This is true comedy. I hope Elmo is trying for
sarcasm -- otherwise I'd have to rate this the
most inane reply I've read in months.

Why? Pregnancy, abortion and birth rates are definitely affected by the
economy. Here's a 1998 article from ABC News:

'Strong Economy Propels Recent Birth Rate Hike

'W A S H I N G T O N, March 28 - Propelled by a strong economy and more
women of childbearing age, total U.S. births rose 2 percent in 1998, the
first increase since 1990, the government reported today.

'"As the economy gets better, people have more children," said Dr. Gabriel
Escobar, a perinatal researcher with Kaiser Permanente, a health maintenance
organization. "But most of the increase is because there are more people
entering the childbearing years."'

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/births000328.html


Meanwhile, although abortion rates have declined overall, abortion rates for
poor women actually increased between 1994 and 2000:

'The overall abortion rate decreased by 11% between 1994 and 2000. The
decline was greatest for 15-17-year-olds, women in the highest income
category, those with college degrees and those with no religious
affiliation. Abortion rates for women with incomes below 200% of poverty
and for women with Medicaid coverage increased between 1994 and 2000. The
rate of decline in abortion among black and Hispanic adolescents was lower
than that among white adolescents, and the abortion rate among poor
teenagers increased substantially.'

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3422602.html

So, given that poverty leads to higher abortion rates and a bad economy
leads to more poverty, and since the percentage of women of childbearing age
is increasing, it's logical to expect that abortion rates will eventually
reverse their downward trend if the Bush economy doesn't improve
substantially.

It's easy for women to talk about how awful abortion is and how they'd never
have one when they and their partners have good jobs and enough money coming
in. An unexpected, mistimed or unwanted pregnancy is one thing when you
have enough money to add on a(nother) child. It's different when you're
laid off or underemployed and aren't confident that things will improve:

October 7, 2003: 11:00 AM EDT

'NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. consumers planned to take on less debt in
October and the months to come, due in part to worries about weakness in the
labor market, a credit research group said Tuesday.

'Somewhat more ominous was a dramatic drop in the index that measures plans
for credit use six months from now, to 70 from 80 in September, the lowest
level since 68 in February.

'"The big story that the overall index is telling us is that consumers are
still hanging in there, but this question that refers to credit use six
months out is the first indicator that maybe there's some softness that
could be developing in consumers' attitudes," said Cambridge senior
economist Allen Grommet.

'The Cambridge survey is less than two years old and is not a major economic
indicator. But its results echo those of other, more established surveys of
consumer confidence, which have stalled in recent months, as the labor
market has been mired in its longest slump since World War II.

'The consumer confidence index compiled by the Conference Board, a New York
research group, is the broadest and most closely watched. It fell in
September to its lowest level since March and has been stagnant since April.
The percentage of respondents saying jobs were "hard to get" rose to the
highest level in nine years.

'The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index also fell in
September, and the ABC/Money weekly confidence index has been mired in a
range for several weeks.

'"It is true that payrolls expanded [in September], but many workers are
being forced to take lower skilled, lower paying jobs," said John
Challenger, CEO of Chicago outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas,
which tracks monthly job-cut announcements. "In some cases, workers are
earning 43 percent less in each paycheck. More people are working part-time
jobs. Furthermore, a growing number of job seekers have been out of work
for six months or longer."
"None of this bodes well for retailers depending on strong holiday sales,
nor for the entire economy, which has mostly relied on consumer spending to
keep it afloat," Challenger added.'

http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/07/news/economy/credit_survey/?cnn=yes