Ramesh Ponnuru takes apart a shoddy report on the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) by Time magazine's Amy Sullivan.
Sullivan states that FOCA would codify a right to abortion until an unborn child is viable, when it would actually codify a right to abortion effectively throughout all nine months of pregnancy. She doesn't bother to mention that the bill would also strike down bans on taxpayer funding of abortion and parental-consent laws. She writes that in a letter from 63 pro-abortion organizations to President Obama, FOCA was not included as one of their top fifteen priorities. Sullivan neglects to mention that they do indeed call on Obama to sign FOCA at some point during the next four years.
Sullivan oddly claims that FOCA is a "mythical abortion bill" just because it hasn't been reintroduced in this Congress. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "The wisest thing in the world is to cry out before you are hurt. It is no good to cry out after you are hurt; especially after you are mortally hurt. ... It is no answer to say, with distant optimism, that the scheme is only in the air. A blow from a hatchet can only be parried while it is in the air."
Worst of all, Sullivan writes that it is a "false claim" that FOCA would "lead to at least 100,000 more abortions each year."
Political scientist Michael New, who has studied the effect that taxpayer funding of abortion has on the abortion rate, writes in an email:
In her February 19th Time Magazine article Amy Sullivan considers the claim that FOCA would lead to more than 100,000 abortions a year as a piece of "misinformation." This figure was calculated using the results of my 2004 Heritage Foundation study which analyzed the effects of state level pro-life legislation on state abortion rates. Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund used the results to calculate how many abortions would occur if every state level 1) public funding restriction 2) parental involvement law and 3) informed consent law were overturned. The figure came out to approximately 125,000.
Of course, the exact magnitude of the abortion increase is an estimate. That having been said there is a substantial body of peer reviewed research which indicate that state level pro-life laws reduce abortion rates. For instance, there are at least 8 peer reviewed studies which indicate that parental involvement laws reduce minor abortion rates and 9 peer reviewed studies which indicate that public funding restrictions reduce the overall incidence of abortion. As such, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the passage of FOCA would increase the number of abortions performed in the United States.
Furthermore, this 125,000 figure is calculated by analyzing what would happen if only state pro-life laws were repealed. The repeal of federal pro-life laws may well push this number even higher.
Sullivan's analysis that FOCA may not have the votes to pass seems accurate, but, as Ed Whelan notes, it's certainly possible that there will be attempts to pass some of the most egregious parts of FOCA in piecemeal fashion. In particular, there may be efforts to fund abortion through Medicaid and through Obama's health care plan. These measures alone could easily lead to more than 100,000 additional abortions each year.
