Re: Joann Pantages' Oct. 7 Compass.
A study by the Washington University School of Medicine has recently been published. The Contraceptive Choice Project enrolled 9,256 at-risk (for unplanned pregnancy) women in a program that offered free contraception, with emphasis on the effectiveness of cheaper forms vs. more expensive but more effective methods. Without cost involved, 75 percent of the women chose the more effective methods. From 2008 to 2010, annual abortion rates for this group of women was on average, 70 percent less than the national abortion rate. Among girls aged 15-19 years old, the annual birth rate was nearly 82 percent less than the national average!
If you actually want to lessen the number of abortions and teen pregnancies, don't spend your energy picketing Planned Parenthood, the organization that has prevented more abortions (by offering accessible contraception) in this country than any other. Instead, support Obamacare and all other efforts to get safe, reliable, and inexpensive birth control to low income women. The statistics are clear — abortion rates plummet when free contraception is offered.
— Anne Terry
Anchorage
Anchorage