Abortion in Puerto Rico

[Ecuajey]

Abortion rate drops in Puerto Rico

Thursday, January 23rd, 2003.

SAN JUAN[/b] (AP) – Abortion rates on the island slid from 22% to 18% in the past decade, according to a national survey conducted by University of Puerto Rico Medical Science Campus.

On Wednesday, Yamila Azize, director of the Pro Women’s Health project on campus said the survey revealed that the drop was linked to expensive abortion procedures and limited access to abortion clinics.

Azize urged the Health Department and the local government to make the necessary adjustments to the health reform and require healthcare insurances to cover abortion, just as many on the U.S. mainland do.

Other factors triggering the drop in abortion rate are the erroneous popular perception that abortion is illegal, as well as a high rate of sterilizations and the use of several contraceptive methods.

"The public still doesn’t acknowledge abortion as a right or as a health issue,” Azize said.

According to the survey, in 2001 13,800 abortions were performed in the seven abortion clinics on the island, while an estimated 2,000 were performed in doctor’s offices or in hospitals.

The study also revealed that these statistics are lower than the mainland U.S., where 25% of pregnancies are voluntarily terminated.

Abortion statistics in Latin America are even higher. In Guyana, for example, 79% of women use this option each year.

Thirty-seven percent of the 541 women who were surveyed in Puerto Rico said to have terminated their pregnancies because they already had children and couldn’t take on the responsibility of raising another child. Thirty-two percent said they considered themselves to be too young to become a mother.

Sixty-seven percent of abortions in Puerto Rico are performed on women between the ages of 20-29, while 22% are performed on women over 30 and 11% on women under 20.

The study also revealed that the number of abortion clinics on the island dropped from 11 in 1991 to seven today.

[El_Jibaro]

First, most of the Puerto Rican population has grown old, so half of the "cows" and "sows" that would otherwise get pregnant because of their monkey business, are already OVER THE HILL.

Second, with all the STD's going around like chlamydia, barely 25% of the other "cows" and "sows" are infertile.

Third, and lastly, many other "cows" and "sows" are scared stiff of catching HIV-AIDS and are seeking other means to satisfy their debased out-of-wedlock desires.

[PhiDaWg61]

Just as long as abortion rates are down in PR. Only an egomaniac would make light of the subject. Especially from a Puerto Rican point of view. Jibaro, have you ever said good bye to someone you knew or loved dying of AIDS?

[ReddPR]

That is pure B.S. "Lack of access to abortion clinics?" Chea. That kind of stuff is a 411 or a phone book away.

My fiance is pregnant. After we took the pregnancy test she grumbled, "I can't have this baby," but she quickly forgot about such a thought a week-or-so-later. Now we are happily expecting our child.

If someone wanted to abort - they could. Even if there was one abortion clinic on the island, those who really considered aborting would hunt it down and find it. Cost is not an issue neither - we're spending more on the first few prenatal check-ups than we would be spending on an abortion.

This article was making it appear that easy access to abortion is a public service and that the P.R. government should advertize it like it was a "fasten your seatbelt" campaign or something.

There is no way to curb the pregnancy rate. It's embedded onto our culture. I spent my life being pumped with sex education and so on. I was told where the free contraceptives could be found and was well educated as to how much of a financial burden children can be to young, unwed couples. That didn't do anything - some can say it was pure irresponsibility, others sin, and others an accident. I stopped trying to figure out what the cause was.

After discussing the issue with our families, the abortion option did not even arrise once. It was unthought of, especially in my faithfully-Catholic side of the family, and in her Protestant family.

Puerto Ricans are generally pro-life. Even though abortion is not a common topic of discussion (either due to the fact that it's culturally tabu or that P.R. really has no power over the whole Roe vs Wade choice) most P.R.icans, I can honestly say, would not resort to abortion.

I remember once a get-together I had with a number of friends of mine. Sitting back in the pool, some of us enjoying a beer, a drunk Puerto Rican buddy of mine began talking about a hidden pregnancy of his girlfriends while on the topic of females, sex, and children. "She was pregnant and we had to abort the child." "You murdered your kid," a friend chuckled while under the influence of alcohol. "Yea... I killed my baby man... I coulda' had a son.. I killed my child," as he burst into tears. The Puerto Ricans that I know who have committed abortion sure-as-hell know that it is murder. Even the guy who said "You murdered yoru kid," said he too would have aborted his child.

P.R. cannot break away from the Federal U.S. decision to keep abortion illegal, but I don't see why resources should be spent on endorcing such a service. That money could go into sex education (if you think it works) or maybe bettering services for those who choose to keep their children.

[ReddPR]

Another thing.

The response from American friends of mine when I tell them that my girlfriend is pregnant: "What are you going to do?"

The response from Puerto Rican friends of mine when I tell them the same: "Congrats. Good luck with the kid man... mine is 4."

Jaja.