For all the Republican Party’s talk, it’s Democratic presidents who significantly reduce the number of unplanned abortions, not Republican ones.
Under President George H.W. Bush, the abortion rate dropped from 24/1000 women to 23/1000, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control.
Under President Bill Clinton the rate dropped from 23/1000 to 16/1000. There was no change in the rate under President George W. Bush. But under President Barack Obama, the figure dropped from 16/1000 to 12.5/10000, the lowest figure in 45 years.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that abortion rates in the United States in 2013 were the lowest recorded since 1971, a full two years before Roe v. Wade established a woman’s right to choose.
A big part of what has driven the numbers down is the implementation of the Affordable Care Act with its mandate that insurance companies must cover contraception without co-pays. That section of the act took affect in January 2013, the last year for which figures are available.
...the CDC report suggests other reasons why abortion rates have fallen sharply: expanded insurance coverage of contraception, increasing use of long-acting methods like IUDs and implants, and a decrease in unintended pregnancies. And fewer unintended pregnancies means fewer terminations. (The CDC cited estimates that intended pregnancies account for less than 5 percent of all abortions.)