626 women decide not to abort after receiving information: Number of Abortions Decrease in Minnesota.

In spite of the best efforts of Planned Parenthood, abortions in Minnesota dropped by 1.5% in 2007 from the 2006 figure. The welcomed decline in deaths from 14,065 to 13,843 was revealed in the annual abortion report issued each year by the Minnesota Department of Health's Center for Health Statistics.

Minnesota's 2003 Woman's Right to Know law requires that all women considering abortion be given information about abortion risks, complications, and alternatives; the gestational age of their unborn child; fetal pain information; and other materials. Last year, 626 women decided not to abort their babies after receiving this information.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) said the decrease was a "welcome sign" and that the 1.5% decline also reflected the impact of the first full year of the Positive Alternatives program being in place.

"We are very pleased to see the direct impact of Positive Alternatives on the state's abortion numbers," said Scott Fischbach, MCCL executive director. "Thousands of pregnant women in need are finding the practical help they need to choose life for their unborn babies."

MCCL was instrumental not only in proposing the groundbreaking Positive Alternatives Act, but getting it passed and funded. Each year $2.5 million is granted through the act to pregnancy care centers, and each year MCCL has to fight to fend off efforts to kill the program.

Fischbach said flatly, "Abortions declined because 2007 was the first full year of Positive Alternatives." He added, "The program's simple, effective approach is to provide real help to women considering abortion, so that they know they have optionsabortion is not the only choice."

But he also noted that while the 2007 figure is the fourth lowest number on record since 1975, it is higher than 2004 and 2005. Abortions jumped by 5% in 2006 after four years of gradual declines. It is no accident that 2007 was also the year that Planned Parenthood opened its third metro area feeder clinic in a St. Paul suburb targeting teenage girls.

MCCL has not only had to fend off the expansionary outreach of Planned Parenthood, it also has to struggle to save the life-affirming Positive Alternatives Act, which has been under attack in the Minnesota legislature since it was passed in 2005.

"Now, the evidence is in hand," Fischbach said. "Providing resources and support to pregnant women does give them options, and many choose life for their unborn child."

The state report shows that more women than ever (37%) cite economic reasons for undergoing abortion. "This high percentage indicates that more Positive Alternatives assistance is needed," Fischbach said.

The report also documented Planned Parenthood's increasingly influential role. At the same time abortions dropped 1.5%, PPFA increased its abortions by 7%. Planned Parenthood now performs 28.3% of all abortions in Minnesota, its largest percentage since abortion reporting began in 1998. It has been the largest provider since 2004.

In addition, 41% (5,736) of the women who received an abortion in 2007 had at least one prior abortion. A total of 146 women reported they had had 6 or more prior abortions.