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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, June 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Figures released by the Indiana State Department of Health show the state’s abortion rate in 2010 was the lowest since 1977, marking a prolonged decline.

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ISDH reported that 10,031 unborn children were aborted in 2010, a five percent drop since 2009. That is 526 fewer abortions than the previous year.

National Right to Life notes, “Indiana’s abortion rate has now dropped over 8% since 2008 and has fallen nearly 40% from Indiana’s highest annual abortion rate of 16,505 in 1980.”
 
“There are lot of factors that go into it,” Marc Tuttle, president of Right to Life of Indianapolis told LifeSiteNews.com. The dwindling number of abortionists in the state is one key. “Nobody goes into medical school in order to become an abortionist,” he said. “We’ve also had a lot of success with sidewalk counseling.”

Statutes such as the state’s parental notice law and 18-hour waiting period, and greater information about fetal development have helped women change their minds, he said.

“Finally, especially here in Indianapolis, we have a network of crisis pregnancy centers that has just bloomed and blossomed over the last five to 10 years. They deserve a lot of credit too for being able to meet the needs of women.”

A representative for Planned Parenthood of Indiana told the media, “Indiana is still 49th in the nation in terms of accessibility in family planning services.”

Tuttle said the pro-life movement has had a number of “hidden victories,” which have been overlooked because the media focus on political or judicial battles, where “pro-lifers are at several disadvantages.”

“What the media don’t cover is the number of abortionists, which has been declining drastically over a number of years; the number of women seeking abortions; and the number of women who are living healthier lifestyles and not living promiscuous lifestyles, who are therefore not at risk of having unplanned pregnancies,” Tuttle told LifeSiteNews.

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The reduction in medical abortions was almost entirely offset by the rising number of chemical, or drug-induced, abortions in the state. There were 1,968 drug-induced abortions in 2010, up from 1,460 in 2009. 

“We are shocked by the rapid increase in the use of chemical abortifacients that are largely unregulated,” said Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter.

Advocates of the unborn welcome the overall declining numbers but remain focused on their goal.

“On the one hand, yes, we’re on the lowest number we’ve had in decades but on the flip side it’s still a horrendous number of abortions,” Tuttle told LifeSiteNews.

“Our goal as pro-lifers needs to be to make our cities and our states totally abortion-free,” he said. “We can be heartened by these numbers, but our goal is to have no abortions.”