Wisconsin’s decline in abortions should be good news. The Wisconsin State Journal points out, the reason is not because birth control is more accessible or the number of unintended pregnancies in the state is on the decline. As abortion numbers drop, the unintended pregnancy rate among under-educated minority women is climbing due to politically-restricted access to reproductive health services, sex education, and publicly-funded contraception. As the editors of the paper write, “When the most vulnerable groups young women and low-income women account for a lower number of unwanted pregnancies, then it will be cause for a true celebration.” 

As demonstrated in Wisconsin, restrictive laws against abortion don’t stop unintended pregnancies, yet access to birth control and sex education can. 

Still, despite this knowledge, as well as the ability to do something, many state legislatures propose –symbolic legislation. Recent activities from the states include the following: In Minnesota, there is a “measure to require a public record of the number of times judges are asked to grant permission for girls to have abortions without their parents' consent and the number of times permission is granted.” In Louisiana, “a doctor would be required to tell a woman planning an abortion that the procedure causes pain to fetuses, even though medical experts disagree over whether fetuses can actually feel pain.” And in Michigan, “Women considering an abortion would be told that anyone pressuring them into having one is violating state law.” 

According to LifeNews.com, several Catholic universities are feeling their own pressure for having invited “pro-abortion commencement speakers.” Further, they “have been accused of violating guidelines set forth by the nation's Catholic bishops. The Catholic Church policies call on universities not giving a platform to pro-abortion politicians.” Included in the list of violating institutions is Boston College for inviting Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Marymount University for inviting Colin Powell.

And speaking of directives from Catholic clergy, in a recent trip to Colorado, Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life urged his followers to show “…the reality of abortion both during the procedure and the physical and emotional aftermath that include sterilization, depression, intense regret and possibly death.” Yet, the website I’m Not Sorry , and the blog it subsequently sparked, provides a very different story from women who actually decided that having an abortion helped rather than harmed them.