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Requiring Ultrasounds Before Abortion: One Mother’s Personal Tragedy

Carolyn Jones made the wrenching decision to end her pregnancy after learning that her unborn son had severe disabilities. Before she could get an abortion, the law required her to view her baby on ultrasound and hear detailed descriptions of his anatomy, an experience she calls “barbaric.”

Study Linking Abortion to Mental Health Problems Is Flawed

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A psychiatry journal has distanced itself from a controversial and widely cited study it published in 2009 linking abortions with mental health problems in women.

Family Matters

Why a Mother Would Have Aborted Her Son

courtesy of Emily Rapp

In her essay, Emily Rapp freely admits she would have aborted her son, who has Tay-Sachs disease, a disorder she expects will kill him this year. What would Rick Santorum say?

7%

Rate of pregnancy in teens aged 15-19 in 2008, or 67.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women in that age group — a nearly 40-year low, according to a new Guttmacher Institute report [PDF]. The teen birthrate also fell to about 4% in 2008, and the abortion rate fell to 1.8%. That’s the lowest rate since abortion [...]

Public Backlash Spurs Komen to Renew Ties with Planned Parenthood

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Facebook and Twitter helped stir up public outcry over Planned Parenthood’s loss of funding from Komen.

Family Matters

Why Abortion Is Less Risky than Childbirth

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Abortions are considered high-risk, but new data suggest that the procedure is considerably safer than childbirth.

‘Personhood’: How Mississippi’s Proposal Could Affect Everything from Abortion to the Drinking Age

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Mississippi voters are deciding today on whether a fertilized egg should be legally considered a “person.” They’ll be choosing to reject or support Initiative 26, which was until weeks ago expected to pass easily but is now too close to call.

1 in 7

Number of U.S. obstetricians and gynecologists who said they do abortions, fewer than previously estimated. Half of pregnancies are unintended in this country, and half of those end in abortion, but access to the procedure remains challenging. The new survey of 1,000 doctors found that 97% said they had encountered patients seeking abortion, but only [...]

A Dumped Boyfriend Gets Even With an Abortion Billboard

AP Photo/Alamogordo Daily News, J.R. Oppenheim

Greg Fultz, 35, is causing controversy in his hometown of Alamogordo, N.M. To get back at his ex-girlfriend, Fultz erected a billboard on the town’s main drag in May claiming that his ex had an abortion.

U.S. Abortion Rate Drops, Except Among Poorest Women

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The rate of abortion among American women has dropped overall, but not among the poorest women, according to study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology by the Guttmacher Institute.