Economic injustice leads to more abortion in U.S. under Bush

An independent study by an ethics professor and statistician at Fuller Theological Seminary finds that, contrary to popular belief, abortion has actually risen in the US during George W. Bush's presidency and that the increase is linked to greater economic inequality.

"Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have been reversed," said Glen Stassen, a leading evangelical divinity school professor.

Citing connections to rising unemployment and soaring healthcare costs, Stassen noted that "economic policy and abortion are not separate issues. They form one moral imperative."

Using data from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Guttmacher Institute, and reporting by individual states, Stassen found that US abortion rates declined 17.4% in the 1990s to a 24-year low when Bush took office.

Many expected that downward trend to continue under the conservative president, but Stassen found the opposite: 52,000 more abortions occurred in 2002 than would have been expected under the pre-2000 conditions, and abortion has risen significantly in those states reporting multi-year abortion statistic