Illinois Abortion Rates Lowest in 30 Years

Via Kathryn Jean Lopez of NRO, abortions hit a 30 year low in Illinois in 2004:

Illinois Abortions

Per the Chicago Sun-Times:

The number of women and girls obtaining abortions hit a 30-year low in 2004, but the two sides of the politically charged issue don't agree on an explanation for the decline...........................Newly released data compiled by the Illinois Department of Public Health show that 41,577 women and girls had abortions, which is down by 2 percent from 2003. Slightly more than half of that total, 21,786, were in Cook County.

I don't know but regardless of your standing on abortion, the fact that fewer woman are having abortions which they have the legal right to do, has to be good news, right? Well even with universal good news on an issue as divisive as abortion, there is plenty of room for politics:

Pro-Life

I'd say the numbers here bear out that the pro-life movement is showing it's having an effect on people's decision what to do with the life of their unborn child," said Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois. "I think this is very good news."

Pro-Choice

Pam Sutherland, president of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, said the trend in Illinois is largely traceable to wider use of so-called morning-after pills that give women the ability to avert unwanted pregnancies without resorting to an abortion.