Abortions highest among low-income women

According to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, a Planned Parenthood-related think tank, abortions in the United States fell 33 percent between 1974 and 2004. This is great news. Sadly, rates remain high among minority women and older women.

As a matter of fact, if your default image of a female seeking an abortion is a teenage girl who finds herself in an "unplanned pregnancy," chances are you are at stuck in a 1960s or 1970s paradigm. According to the report:

The teen abortion rate dropped from 33 percent in 1974 to 17 percent in 2004. Fifty-seven percent of abortions in 2004 were among women in their 20s. Most abortions (89 percent) in 2004 occurred during the first trimester. Abortions performed at seven weeks or sooner after pregnancy increased from 16 percent in 1994 to 28 percent in 2004. Sixty percent of abortions in 2004 were among women who already had children, up from 50 percent in 1989 and 46 percent in 1974.

To date, the majority of abortions occur among minority women who are between the ages 18 and 29. The report also suggests that teens are having abortions less because of the increase use of contraceptives.

The report misses a few additional trends among teens. First, more and more teen girls, in our "it's-cool-to-be-as-silly-as-Jamie-Lynn-Spears" era, are having babies on purpose because it's "cool," and many girls have expressed using babies as a means of receiving unconditional love. Second, for many teens today oral sex has become the preferred method of sexual engagement. As such, many "abstinence-only" programs are missing the mark, as well.

Because of the concentration of abortions among low-income women of all races, and minority women in particular, the study suggests that the solution lies in government working to increase the use of contraceptives among that group. This is misguided, as well.

While the reduction is welcomed news, being less bad is no reason to celebrate. No one would pat me on the back if I said, "I've made progress: I only beat my kids three days a week instead of seven."

Sadly, evangelicals continue to miss the mark on this issue because too many of our efforts target teens. It's no longer 1978. The abortion problem in America is sustained primarily among fully grown, adult women-many of whom are married or are in committed relationships. If evangelicals really want to fight against abortion, efforts must be doubled at reaching adult and low-income women and men of all races in "da hood" or "the trailer park."

The abortion industry targets the very communities were evangelicals do not live and often avoid at all costs: low-income and minority communities (except for weekend "missions trips" and during Thanksgiving and Christmas). Until evangelicals creatively move toward low-income and minority women and men in love, instead of condemnation for being "white trash" or inner-city "welfare moms," the abortion industry will continue to have its way with people in vulnerable positions.

This new report is actually a call for the church to think more missionally about her presence in certain communities. We cannot expect to affect the demand for abortions if those whom are mostly likely to obtain them are not in our homes and churches. The abortion crisis will be most creatively attacked if your church can answer this question: What is our church doing to love adult, low-income whites and minority men and women? Put your actions where your mouth is (James 2:14-17). Protest and lovingly invest.

Protesting abortion and voting for pro-life candidates is, at best, only scratching the surface on the supply side. How are we tackling the demand side?