Study: Contraceptives raise abortion rate

MADRID, Spain (BP)--A newly published study in Spain shows increased use of contraceptives did not result in a decrease in abortions.

The report in the January issue of the medical journal Contraception showed contraceptive use in women of childbearing age rose by 30 percent -- 49.1 percent to 79.9 percent -- from 1997 to 2007. The rate of elective abortions, however, more than doubled from 5.52 to 11.49 per 1,000 women.

The results fly in the face of the conventional wisdom espoused that greater use of contraceptives reduces the abortion rate.

The study authors offered some possible explanations for this apparent incongruity, including improved abortion reporting, but said in conclusion, "The reasons for the increasing rate of elective abortion warrant further investigation."

Pro-lifer Christina Dunigan wrote about the results at her blog RealChoice: "Researchers scratched their heads in bewilderment, likely because they don't understand risk compensation. If you reduce the perceived risks of a behavior, people will compensate by behaving in higher-risk ways.

She added, "The Pill Pushers have chosen to ignore the data, and the reality of how human beings work. The more you create an environment in which people perceive sex as low-risk, the more people will engage in risky sex."

Compiled by Tom Strode, Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.

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