Wisconsin abortions drop to lowest number on record

Recently, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services released the state's abortion statistics for 2013. The numbers continue to trend downward...dramatically.

The number of induced abortions reported as occurring in Wisconsin in 2013 was 6,462, down from 6,927 in 2012....The estimated 2013 Wisconsin resident induced abortion rate was 5.8 per 1,000 women ages 15-44, compared to 6.1 in 2012. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national rate was 14.6...in 2010...the most recent year for which national data are available."

 Other items of note from the statistics:

• Sixteen children aged 14 and under procured abortions in Wisconsin last year. Given that those pregnancies were--by definition--caused by sexual assault, I wonder how many of the perpetrators were prosecuted. 210 more abortions were performed for girls under the age of 18.
• Once again, black women account for a quarter of the state's abortions--far outpacing African Americans' representation in the general population.
• Is abortion a symptom of poverty and lack of opportunity? In many cases, yes. But it's also worth noting that 56 percent of women who procured abortions completed at least some post-high school education. For African Americans, that number is 51 percent.
• A common pro-abortion talking point is that complications are rare. The Department of Health services insinuates that this claim might not be true: "Asserting the incidence of complications is somewhat problematic. Facilities are asked to complete the reporting form during the visit in which the procedure is performed. However, some complications do not occur immediately or become apparent while the patient is in post-procedure recovery."
• Milwaukee County leads the state with 13 abortions per every 1,000 women aged 15-44. Dane County is a distant second at 7.1.