ST. PAUL, Minnesota, July 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The overall number of babies being killed through abortion has declined in the state of Minnesota, but Planned Parenthood is performing more abortions than ever.
The Minnesota Department of Health’s latest statistics show that 11,505 unborn children were aborted in 2010. The number represents seven percent fewer unborn children aborted than the previous year’s total of 12,388.
The 2010 Abortion Rate shows the number of abortions have declined for the fourth consecutive year – a trend which pro-life groups have attributed in part to the Positive Alternatives program set up in July 2006 under Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Pawlenty is a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.
The Positive Alternatives program, according to Michigan Concerned Citizens for Life, has assisted more than 25,000 pregnant Minnesota women to find ways to give birth to their children and care for them instead of choosing abortion.
According to the statistics, the number of abortions in minor girls has also dropped in the state. These dropped 16.8 percent from the previous year to 482. Minors account edfor 4 percent of all abortions performed in 2010.
The number of abortions performed on minors reached its peak in 1980 (2327 abortions). The next year, Minnesota enacted a parental notification law.
“Seeing abortion numbers fall is confirmation that MCCL’s efforts to educate and provide alternatives for women are working,” said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. “However, recent pro-life losses suffered at the Capitol, and Planned Parenthood’s massive abortion center set to open, do not bode well for the unborn or their mothers going forward.”
While the number of abortions is at the lowest since 1975, abortion provider Planned Parenthood has defied this decline, increasing its share of the abortion market in Minnesota.
According to MCCL, Planned Parenthood was the only abortion provider to perform more abortions in 2010 than 2009; it dominates 35 percent of the state’s abortion business. MCCL adds that Planned Parenthood aggressively expanded by 64 percent the number of abortions it performed between 2000-2010, while the total number of abortions dropped 22 percent in the state over that same period.
“With its massive new abortion clinic under construction in St. Paul, which will be the nation’s third largest, Planned Parenthood is poised to expand its already bloated business of killing the unborn in record numbers,” remarked Fischbach.
Pro-life advocates in Minnesota fought to pass five pieces of pro-life legislation, including pro-life language in the budget, but none passed due to the opposition of Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton.
See the full MDH 2010 Abortion Report here.