http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/25/one-third-detroit-pregnancies-are-aborted-report/print/ By Jessica Chasmar
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The Washington Times
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Detroit women are turning to abortion at a staggering rate as poverty and crime grip the city, with more than one-third of pregnancies being terminated.
According to 2012 figures, the most recent year for which data are available, 31 percent of pregnancies among Detroit residents ended in abortion — compared to about 14 percent for all of Michigan, The Detroit News reported.
"That translates into a Detroit abortion rate — the number of abortions by population, including women who weren't pregnant that year — of 37.9 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. That's up from 27.5 per 1,000 women in 2001," the report said.
Dr. Susan Schooley, chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital, said the statistics make Detroit look "more like some Third-World country than someplace in the United States."
"To the extent that a significant proportion of those (pregnancies) are unplanned, it leads to all these decision-making options of which abortion is one lousy choice," she said.
National studies show a direct correlation between abortion and poverty. Also, funding for family planning and contraceptives has decreased significantly in Michigan in recent years, from more than $5 million in 2006 to $692,300 in 2013, The Detroit News reported.
The death rate for children 18 and younger is also higher in Detroit than in any U.S. city its size or larger, the report said.
