NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - All but 12 US states reported a decline in the number of abortions per 1,000 women in 1995, according a federal report released on Thursday.

      The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that California still has the highest abortion rate, 40 abortions for every 1,000 women, and the highest total number of abortions, 289,987, but those figures are a decrease from 1994 when it reported 43 per 1,000 and 308,564, respectively. Wyoming reported the lowest rate of 2 per 1,000 women, which was a slight increase from the year before, and the lowest total number of abortions.

      The CDC previously reported that the nationwide abortion rate was 20 per 1,000 women in 1995, the latest year that figures are available. New York had the second-highest rate of abortion, 34 per 1,000 women, followed by Delaware, Florida and Rhode Island, where the rate was 26 per 1,000. After Wyoming, the lowest rate was recorded in Idaho, with 4 per 1,000, followed by Mississippi, where it was 6 per 1,000.

      The states where the total number of abortions increased were Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

      Meanwhile in Lincoln, Nebraska, a state law passed last year to ban partial-birth abortions was struck down on Thursday by a federal judge who said the measure was to broad and represented an unconstitutional burden on a woman's right to abortion under US Supreme Court decisions.

      US District Court Judge Richard Kopf ruled that the ban's languages was too vague and broadly worded. "I'm not surprised at the ruling, but it's really fortunate that courts continue to protect citizens from politicians and their agendas," said Susan Hale, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood in Nebraska.

      A similar law was upheld by a federal judge in Virginia this week, while another one was struck down by a state judge in Florida. In all, 28 states have passed bans on the late-term procedure, and are still in effect in 16 of those states.