Fayette, Greene abortion cases increase
HARRISBURG – The number of Fayette and Greene county women who had abortions increased by more than 15 percent in 2001, according to statistics released Thursday by the state Department of Health. Meanwhile, abortions declined among women in Washington and Allegheny counties.
Fayette County women had 215 abortions in 2001, a 16.2 percent increase, while Greene County women accounted for 63 abortions, a 23.5 percent rise. Among Allegheny women, 4,147 women had abortions, a 1.3 percent decrease. In Washington County, 319 women had abortions, a 2.7 percent drop.
Statewide, 35,025 residents had abortions, a 3.3 percent increase. Philadelphia residents accounted for about 41 percent of abortions.
The statistics alarmed anti-abortion groups, who say abortion is often being used as a form of birth control and not for publicly accepted reasons, such as rape, incest and health concerns. They point to the fact that 45 percent of the abortions performed statewide in 2001 were done on women who have had one or more previous abortions.
“This suggests that many abortions are not used in hard cases, where most people are willing to tolerate it, but instead are being used just as a backup to birth control,” said Carolyn Astfalk, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.
Abortion rights activists say the reason for the large increases in counties such as Fayette and Greene is often money: poorer women can’t get the help they need. Providing more sex education and increasing access to birth control would reduce abortions, they say.
“I would say [the statistics] demonstrate that we need better access to family planning services and more money put into it, so people have better access,” said Kim Evert, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. “There are parts of the state where people have no access. And even areas that have access, such as Allegheny County, are grossly underfunded, and not everyone who needs access gets it.”
The Department of Health statistics take into account only abortions reported in Pennsylvania. Those residents who had abortions outside the state were not included in the totals, but residents from other states who had abortions here were included in some of the figures.
For the second year in a row, abortions performed in Pennsylvania increased by 3.3 percent, up to 36,820 in 2001. Despite the increase, the figure is the fourth-lowest annual number recorded. Abortions in Pennsylvania had been at an all-time low in 1999, with 34,394. The highest number of abortions in Pennsylvania, 65,777, was recorded in 1980.