Abortion Disinformation at CUA

It’s always awkward when a Catholic college or university invites a pro-choice speaker to lecture on campus, at least to Catholics outside of its gates. It’s particularly problematic when the lecturer proceeds to spread disinformation on abortion to the audience.

The event becomes even more troublesome when the speech is given by a member of a storied Catholic family and is delivered at the only university in North America chartered by the Vatican. Case in point: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland made an appearance at the Catholic University of America on November 9, 2011.

The daughter of the late U. S. Senator Robert Kennedy seemed to spin abortion data in a highly partisan manner. “In response to the issue of abortion, Townsend stated that when a Democrat gets elected, the abortion rates go down,” Annie Backscheider wrote in her write-up of the event which appeared on November 11, 2011 in the CUA Tower, the student newspaper at the university. “She says that this results from the safety net ensued by higher taxes,” Backscheider wrote of Townsend’s arguments. “With higher taxes, there are more opportunities available for the poor, which gives pregnant women with little money, hope for a brighter future for their children.”

There’s only one problem with Townsend’s analysis. In the words of the great George Gershwin song, “It ain’t necessarily so.” “For the forty-seven states reporting data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in both 1990 and 20051 the number of abortions fell from 1,054,719 to 820,151, a decline of 22.2 percent (Gamble et al. 2008; Koonin, Smith, and Ramick 1993,”  Michael New wrote in an article which appeared in State Politics & Policy Quarterly.

New points out that:

•  “In 1992, virtually no states had informed consent laws. By 2005, thirty-three

states had informed consent laws in effect (National Abortion Rights Action

League [NARAL] 1992, 2005).

• “In 1992, no states had waiting periods. By 2005, twenty-two states required

women to wait a specified period before obtaining an abortion (NARAL

1992, 2005).

• “In 1992, only twenty states were enforcing parental involvement laws. By 2005, thirty-four states were enforcing these laws (NARAL 1992, 2005).”

As you can see, New got his data from primary sources, including the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), whose name is self-explanatory.

“There exists a broad consensus among scholars that state restrictions on public funding of abortions through Medicaid reduce the incidence of abortion (Blank,George, and London 1996; P. Cook et al. 1999; Donovan 1983; Haas-Wilson 1993, 1996; Matthews, Ribar, and Wilhelm 1997; Medoff 2002; Ohsfeldt and Gohman 1994),” Professor New notes. “Similarly, a number of studies have found that parental involvement laws reduce the number of abortions being performed on minors within the boundaries of a given state. Studies using time series cross-sectional data find that parental involvement laws reduce in-state abortion rates for minors anywhere from 13 percent to 19 percent (Haas-Wilson 1993, 1996; New 2007; Ohsfeldt and Gohman 1994).”

“Case studies of individual states also find that parental involvement laws are correlated with declines in in-state abortion rates (Cartoof and Klerman 1996; Ellertson 1997; Joyce, Kaestner, and Colman 2006; Rogers et al. 1991).”

State Politics & Quarterly is published by the American Political Science Association. New is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Michigan–Dearborn.

(Full disclosure: I had the pleasure of working with Mike when he was an intern at the National Journalism Center in the 1990s.)

By the way, Backscheider also writes that “Being a Catholic Democrat is also difficult for Townsend, as she cannot speak at most Catholic schools, [sic] unless it is a university or Jesuit institution.” Still and all, that does seem to cover a lot of ground, literally.

Yet, if the former second-in-command in the Free State feels that left out, maybe she should add Sienna College to her “places to visit” list. “Siena College, a Catholic institution in upstate New York, has invited Widney Brown of Amnesty International to address students on November 14,” John Ritchie reported in LifeNews.com on November 11, 2011. “Brown has publicly promoted worldwide access to abortion and attacked the Catholic Church for its moral position against abortion and contraception.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.

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