CHARLESTON — There’s no disputing the simple arithmetic — there were 271 fewer abortions performed in 2005 than the previous year in West Virginia.

Just why is not so easy to discern.

To West Virginians for Life, the largest anti-abortion group in the state, the answer lies in full implementation of the Women’s Right to Know Act that requires doctors to tell women all the ramifications of the procedure in a 24-hour waiting period.

But to WV-Free, the most visible pro-choice group lobbying at the Capitol in legislative session, the decline can be explained in an expansion of family planning counseling.

“We attribute the decline in the abortion rate to responsible family planning,” Margaret Chapman, executive director of WV-Free, said Tuesday.

Through its networking with the Department of Health and Human Resources, she said, the state family planning program “does a fantastic job of getting reproductive health services to men and women across the state.”

But Melissa Adkins, executive director of West Virginians for Life, says the smaller abortion figure for 2005 is a reflection of the Women’s Right to Know Act, once it was “fully implemented” by Gov. Joe Manchin.

Adkins said the number of pregnancies fell only slightly in the one-year period, so the logical conclusion is that the new law discouraged many women from undergoing abortions.

“More women chose to give birth to their babies,” she said.

“Nothing changed with family planning between 2004 and 2005. The only thing that changed was the Women’s Right to Know bill. We know that other states, when that type of legislation has been passed, have seen a similar drop in their abortion rates.”

Chapman said the planning program is “engaging in more outreach, and their programs enable people to space and plan their pregnancies as their lifestyles require.”

“I don’t want to speak for the abortion providers, but I think that if you were to ask them about the amount of requests they get from women to look at the right-to-know material, it’s very rare that women ask for the right to know material,” she said.

Adkins disagreed, saying that once women were given information on the risk and alternatives to abortion, as state law now requires, the bottom line is that fewer abortions were performed in 2005.

“We’ve had family planning around for many, many years,” she said.

“Most unplanned pregnancies end with the birth of the child. The vast majority of women carried those to term.”

Chapman said it is obvious to WV-Free that family planning is doing what it was intended to do.

“The best way to reduce the abortion rate is to reduce unintended pregnancies,” she said.

“And that’s what WV-Free does. We’re happy to be able to get more money in the family planning program in the last state-approved budget.”

Adkins said her group would resume its efforts in the 2008 session to enact an enhanced Parents Right to Know act and limit the amount of tax dollars allowed for abortion. Both proposals failed to be taken up in the House this year.

“Abortion is the leading cause of death of our state’s children, killing three times more children in West Virginia than all other causes combined,” she said.

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com