Friday, January 18, 2008 - Posts
-
sponsorship
So, Chris Matthews apologized—at length—for his Hillary comments (which XX Factor discussed here and here). Here’s the video. I’m sure that now a chorus of laments will ring out in the world at large about how PC nags forced him into this. But let’s remember that his statements took place in a larger context of ongoing negativity toward Hillary (check out this Media Matters article). And listen to what he says about halfway through: that he wasn’t speaking “blunt truth,” in this case, because the real truth is a lot larger than he made it sound. That sounds about right to me. If he had said sympathy was a factor in getting Hillary where she is today, fine, big whoop. But he implied it was the only factor. That’s not a “tough truth” sensitive women don’t want to hear; it’s just a predictable, small-minded jab.
-
sponsorship
Good question, Juliet, about whether the decline in abortions can be attributed to the decline in the number of clinics. You're right about the latter. In her recent book This Common Secret, Susan Wicklund says that ”between 1982 and 2000, the number of abortion providers in the United States declined from 2900 to 1819, a drop of 37 percent, and thetrend has continued since." Wicklund also notes that "in 2004, almost 60 percent of abortion providers were more than fifty years old.”
The Guttmacher Institute, which puts out the abortion stats, discusses barriers to acess in certain parts of the country as a possible explanation for the fall. But the Gutt folks don't think there's a direct cause-and-effect link. They point out that the abortion rate declined much faster (by 9 percent) than the number of providers (2 percent). Also, as Will Saletan notes, the rate is down in some pro-choice states and some states in which there was an increase in providers—California, Georgia, and New York. And there were also three states in which the abortion rate increased despite a decrease in providers—Alaska, Colorado, and Connecticut. So this doesn't look like the most plausible explanation.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?