Perhaps the saddest sight in a campaign is one pro-choice candidate attacking another pro-choice candidate for being insufficiently pro-choice. This week Senator Clinton dispatched a Bonnie Grabenhofer, president of the Illinois National Organization for Women Political Action Committee, to attack Senator Obama's abortion voting record. Ms. Grabenhofer said:
"As a State Senator, Barack Obama voted 'present' on seven abortion bills, including a ban on 'partial birth abortion,' two parental notification laws and three 'born alive' bills. In each case, the right vote was clear, but Senator Obama chose political cover over standing and fighting for his convictions . . . When we needed someone to take a stand, Senator Obama took a pass. He wasn't there for us then and we don't expect him to be now."
In New York, the state Senator Clinton ostensibly represents, there have been between 117,000 and 121,000 abortions each year from 2003-2005, according to state Department of Health statistics.
In 2003, there were 119,685 abortions, which included:
* 15,787 victims with 3 or more abortions;
* 36,670 victims between 20-24 years old;
* 13,067 victims with a gestation period greater than 13 weeks.
In 2004, there were 120,401 abortions, which included:
* 3,904 victims with 5 or more abortions;
* 27,978 victims between 25-29 years old;
* 6,388 victims with a gestation period between 13-15 weeks.
In 2005 there were 117,994 abortions, which included:
* 31,340 victims with 2 or more abortions;
* 17,542 victims between 30-34 years old;
* 6,557 victims with a gestation period greater than 16 weeks.
These statistics are never reported. Not in a paper, a paper's web site, a local television news broadcast, a national television news broadcast or a radio news broadcast. Because they are tragic numbers. Each number has a story. A story that is either poignant, frightening, heartbreaking or unimaginable.
There is hope. Alternatives to abortion are succeeding. In 1997, there were 145,334 abortions in New York. Nearly 30,000 fewer abortions in the Empire State is wonderful news unbeknownst to hardly any New Yorker outside of the pro-life movement. If the trend continues for the next ten years it won't matter - at all - if it still isn't reported.
