DES MOINES (AP) — The number of abortions performed annually in Iowa is declining, according to newly released data, but two opposing groups attribute the drop to different factors.
Between 2010 and 2013, the number of abortions in Iowa decreased from 5,399 to 4,423, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. That represents an 18.1 percent drop.
The AP compiled the data based on information from the Iowa Department of Public Health. The agency’s records include tracking surgical abortions and medically induced abortions.
Penny Dickey, chief clinical officer of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa, said the decline is the result of better access and affordability to family planning services like birth control. She added that long-lasting contraception like IUDs and hormonal implants are also highly effective and more accessible to women than several years ago.
Jenifer Bowen, executive director of Iowa Right to Life, said the decline is linked to an uptick in privately funded pregnancy centers around the state that often offer counseling services to women on other options, including adoption and continuing the pregnancy. She also believes there is a correlation between the decline and grassroots efforts from volunteers who protest abortions outside clinics that provide such services. The use of advanced ultrasound technology that offers clearer pictures of the fetus may also play a role.
“It’s a combination,” she said. “I don’t think that there’s any one thing that anybody can point to and say, ‘This. This is why.’”
The AP compiled data on abortion rates from health departments in 45 U.S. states that keep such information on a comprehensive basis. It shows the annual number of abortions has declined substantially since 2010 in most states. The biggest decreases are almost equal between states that have enacted anti-abortion laws during that span and other states that have shunned such measures while protecting abortion rights.