According to Kansas Department of Health and Environment 2008 vital statistics released last week, there was a marginal decrease in the number of abortions performed in the state between 2008 and 2007. That was the good news.

The bad news: There was an increase in the number of abortions performed on viable, unborn children during the same period.

The figures show there was a total of 10,642 abortions performed in Kansas in 2008, a decrease of approximately 2 percent from the 10,836 performed in 2007. There have been at least 127,097 abortions performed in Kansas between 1998 and 2008.

Although 5,512 of the abortion recipients were Kansas residents, 5,130 pregnant women came from out of state to have their abortions performed. But for late-term abortions, almost all of the women were from out of state.

There were 323 abortions performed on unborn children who were 22 weeks of age and older, some of whom were viable, unborn children, and some of whom were non-viable. That's a 10 percent increase over 2007, when there were 293 abortions performed on unborn children in this age group.

Only 27 of the women participating in abortions on unborn children aged 22 weeks and older were Kansas residents.

Abortions were performed on 192 unborn children who were older than 22 weeks, all of whom were considered viable. That's a 12 percent increase over the 168 abortions that were performed on viable, unborn children in 2007. Only four of the women undergoing the abortions were Kansas residents.

Under state law, abortions may be performed on viable, unborn children if the health or life of the mother is at risk. A former attorney general, Carla Stovall, a "moderate" Republican, widened the scope of "health" to include "mental health," a category that includes a wide array of conditions, some of which many people have deemed trivial. There has never been a reported case of an abortion being performed to save the life of the mother in the state of Kansas since the KDHE began collecting data 10 years ago.

There was also a slight increase in the number of children who received abortions during the last year. In 2008, 58 girls who were 14 years of age and younger received an abortion, compared to the 55 girls in this age category who received an abortion in 2007.

Of the 58, seven were performed on unborn children who were 22 weeks of age and older. The report showed that one of the pregnant minors had already had one previous abortion.

When Kansas Liberty asked the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services last week for data on how many minor sexual abuse reports they had received from abortion clinics within the last year, they refused to provide information.

“We are unable to release the requested data because the requested data falls into an exception to the Open Records Act in that it may lead to the identity of a reporter,” Michelle Ponce, SRS spokesperson, told Kansas Liberty.

Out of the 1,704 abortions performed on girls within the 15-19 age group, 215 had already received one previous abortion, and 14 had received two previous abortions.

Out of the 3,699 abortions performed on girls in the 20-24 age group, 898 had received one previous abortion and 267 had received two previous abortions. Eleven women in this age category had received five or more previous abortions.

Carrie Carlson, executive director of the Topeka-based Caring Pregnancy Options, said that the vast majority of pregnant girls she counsels who are minors are very clear in expressing that they are not interested in having an abortion.

“We discuss all the different options, and when I bring up the possibility of abortion, 99.9 percent of the younger girls say, ‘No way, I could never do that,’” Carlson told Kansas Liberty.

Carlson said she has noticed that younger girls generally have an optimistic view of having a baby, which makes them confused as to why they would consider, want or need an abortion.

Carlson said that the parents who accompany the young girls would often tell the girls they will have an abortion, regardless of whether or not they want one. Carlson said she believed that the majority of the 58 abortions performed on girls younger that 14 years old were probably a result of coercion.

“I think they were probably forced into it or had someone talking them into it,” she said.

Kansans for Life, a pro-life organization, recently urged Attorney General Steve Six to monitor cases of sexual child abuse closely and to ensure that abortion clinics accurately report cases of child abuse to the proper authorities.

Pro-life advocates and lawmakers have been suspicious that Planned Parenthood clinics, as well as other abortion providers, have not been adequately reporting cases of minor sexual abuse to the authorities.

A Planned Parenthood watchdog group released a report Tuesday saying several Planned Parenthood locations have underage girls participating in clinical trials dealing with birth control and sexually transmitted disease testing.

The report was conducted by the STOPP Planned Parenthood effort. It found that 28 Planned Parenthood affiliates conducted several clinical trials on young girls, including one girl who was just 13 years old.

Some of the clinical trials involved young girls being reminded to take birth control pills by receiving text messages. Other clinical trials utilized federal funds. Kansas Planned Parenthoods were not listed in the report.

Resources

Access KDHE vital statistics report here
http://www.kdheks.gov/ches/

Caring Pregnancy Options
http://www.cpo-apc.org/

STOPP report
http://www.all.org/article.php?id=12223

The Week in Review