Abortions are down in Ohio, with health department officials postulating it might be due to a noted decrease in the use of the abortion pill, the
Columbus Dispatch reported. According to the state Department of Health, abortions fell about 12 percent last year, marking the largest decline in more than 10 years.
Officials aren’t sure if the decline is because people are deciding on other procedures or if providers aren’t reporting all the abortions they provide, but noted a sharp drop in use of the abortion pill, which had been an increasingly common method of terminating early pregnancies.
Either way, 24,764 pregnancies were terminated in 2011, down from 28,123 in 2010, the Dispatch reported Tuesday. Health department officials said this is the 11th year in a row abortions have dropped.
The news came just months after Republican Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus said he won
’t pursue legislation for the “heartbeat bill” because it’s flawed.
That bill has triggered a split among the state’s pro-lifers because they disagreed about passing a law that would probably be declared unconstitutional.
Abortion supporters and opponents alike welcomed the news, but the numbers don’t necessarily reflect people changing their minds about the procedure.
Pro-choice advocates said fewer unintended pregnancies, combined with laws that make it harder to get an abortion, have brought about the numbers.
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