For the past 18 years, Alaska has tracked annual abortions in the state. The 1,206 reported in 2020 are the fewest ever recorded.
Between 2003 and 2009, there were around 1,860 abortions performed annually in Alaska. Those numbers began to steadily decline over the past decade. Since 2016, there has been about 1,255 abortions each year in Alaska. The drop is also reflected in national studies which show that abortion has plummeted by 24% since 2009, according to recent data from the CDC.
The reasons for the drop in Alaska are unclear, but live births and pregnancies have been decreasing since 2015. According to a new state report, the fertility rate among Alaska women dropped from 77.1 in 2015 to 67.9 in 2019. Teen birth rates have also dropped over that time. Fertility rates are based only on the number of live births overall. and do not factor in pregnancies that end in abortion, miscarriage, or death.
Greg Monrad is executive director of the Community Pregnancy Center, a pro-life pregnancy clinic in Anchorage. He was pleasantly surprised about the decreased abortion numbers but doesn’t really know how to explain them.
In 18 years, they have reported killing a total of 28,566 unborn Alaska babies.
“This last year, we’ve actually seen more people come into the center determined to have an abortion – that’s their plan,” he said. “To be totally honest, I’m shocked – very pleasantly shocked.”
On average, the CPC sees around 550 visitors a year. The vast majority are women, but they are starting to see more men who want to help their partners.
Monrad noted that it has become easier to talk about abortion and unborn life over the past few years, especially as pro-abortion activists become increasingly extreme in their positions.
“It actually causes people to pause and think,” he said. “It is so extreme now that people can no longer align themselves with that.”
The 2020 abortion numbers for Alaska are quietly posted each year on Alaska Department of Health & Social Service’s website under the title: “Induced Termination of Pregnancy.”
Of the 1,206 abortions last year, most were performed on mothers who were unmarried (75%), and nearly four in 10 abortions were paid for with state Medicaid funds.
Raw data for the annual abortion report is submitted by abortionists as required by law. In 18 years, they have reported killing a total of 28,566 unborn Alaska babies.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Ten percent of all abortions in 2020 were performed on Alaska teens. As in past years, the bulk of abortions (712 or 57%) were on women between the ages of 20 and 29, and more than 54% of mothers had undergone at least one prior abortion.
In 2005, Alaska began requiring abortionists to provide informed consent to women before performing an abortion on them. The state created a website with basic medical information to help women understand the risks and alternatives to abortion, as well as how the procedures are performed.
Alaska law requires abortionists to discuss material described in the state website before performing an abortion. The most recent report, however, indicates that this information was not requested by 99.1% of women and just 13% received a copy of the website material.
While there has been a shift in pro-life attitudes over the years, Monrad said there is much work to be done. He noted that there are now 12 pro-life pregnancy centers across the state, and he encouraged Alaskans to find out more about them.
“Tell people about it, refer people, bring them here,” he said. “See what you are called to do about this. It may be talking to your children and people in your sphere of influence, or maybe it is volunteering. We are volunteer driven. Then there is the financial and prayer support. We are all nonprofits. None of us get federal funding.”
TAKING ACTION
- Click here to view a list of pro-life pregnancy centers from across Alaska.
15 Comments
Help support our local Community Pregnancy Center by going to http://www.friendsofcpcanchorage.com and check out the online auction fundraiser that started today and goes through 11:45 pm on Sunday, April 25.
329 deaths from Covid: Tragedy we all need to lay down our personal rights to overcome.
1,206 (a historic low) abortions in Alaska: time to celebrate!
UGH.
Who’s celebrating? The director of the CPC is pleasantly surprised. The author is pointing out an historic low and the fact that there appears to be no obvious reason for it.
If there is hypocrisy to respond to, it’s not found in this piece.
I’ve always wondered if, when the number of reported abortions declines in an area, there is a simultaneous decline in population density that might be a factor.
Fulton Sheen spoke with foreboding about what the U.S. would look like 20, 30, 40+ years after the legalization of abortion, when a high number of women and men (parents, grandparents, etc) had been psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually wounded through the slaughter of their own children.
I’s deeply disturbing to see how far we’ve fallen off the cliff of civilization in such a short span of time. As a nation, we’ve abrogated human flourishing in favor of sexual depravity and child sacrifice.
Our nation will never again know peace until we eradicate abortion.
Th point wasn’t “yeah, less abortions” but more to illustrate the point that some deaths are used to manipulate the population’s emotions more than others. The hypocrisy is the opposite of what you were thinking.
Maybe if I phrased it differently: “Emergency! Emergency! Average numbers of elderly and infirm are dying from a mysterious illness not unlike the flu! Everyone lock down society and hoard toilet paper!! You have no right to refuse a vaccine because 329 people have died!!”
Versus: “1,206 instances of free women exercising their right to choose to murder their own children in the womb. How great is that?”
The comment is about society and the government. Not pregnancy outreach and pro-life activists.
The hypocrisy is on the part of the gullible and easily manipulated masses who somehow miss the irony of these contradictory social standards.
Got it. I thought that’s what you meant. 🙂
Maybe if 2020 had the fewest abortion ever we need to keep going down that trail! Murder isn’t a good thing. It’s the number one murder cause on the books.
That’s because the more kids you have in tow the more money the welfare people will give you. Girls purposly become baby factories up there to get that money. I actually researched this when i worked at the community health Center. True story.
This is So Sick.
54% having a second abortion what is wrong with these people.
So Wrong.
While this sounds good on the surface, unfortunately this isn’t the whole story. The primary reason that abortion rates are declining is not because fewer abortions are happening, but that when and how abortions are happening are earlier and more discreet. All forms of hormonal birth control are abortifacients. Because the death process happens early in the baby’s life, most mother’s don’t ever know it happens. Heaven only knows how many souls have never made it past the first few days of life due to these deadly and deceptive drugs. I hope and pray that truth and life will prevail!
My personal view on a decline in abortions, pregnancies and live births is because women have better options for birth control until they are ready to be a mother. We now have the IUD and many other options for women which allows a women to wait until they are ready for motherhood. I am not a fan of pushing for abortions when a women isn’t ready for motherhood but I will say the options for women today offered through the health department or private practitioners is outstanding and have likey decreased abortions through prevention.
Maybe abortions are lower, because the fertility is on the decline on both sides? By using word fertility, I mean, as of ability to conceive, become pregnant, not what they consider, as article points out.
Pro-Choice. No one is “pro-abortion.”
Pro-Choice IS Pro-Abortion- more accurately, Pro-Death. The “choice” part begins well before conception, and ends at the creation of a new life Tom. Nobody should have autonomy over another human’s life.
I don’t know what happened to my comment in which I went into alot of detail, and spent considerable time writing it. Bottom line is that no one is mentioning the RU486 pill. More than half of all abortions are done at home. You can obtain these pills on the internet ( zoom call I presume with a prescribing doctor you will never see again). Less abortions is not a fact. The ability to abort at home avoids being counted and means all consent laws become irrelevant.