From the Chiaroscuro Foundation:
Two-thirds of New Yorkers (64%) – including 57% of pro-choice women – think too many abortions are taking place in New York City every year, and more than half of city residents surveyed (51%) would support a 24-hour waiting period before abortion procedures can take place, according to a comprehensive citywide poll released today by the New York City-based Chiaroscuro Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports alternatives to abortion. The 53-question survey was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates within the past month.
Almost three-quarters of New Yorkers (74%) think too many African-American pregnancies are being terminated in the city, according to the poll, and 63% of city residents support parental consent before anyone under the age of 18 can have an abortion.
A majority of New Yorkers (81%) were completely unaware of New York City’s inordinately high abortion ratio. A full 41% of viable pregnancies in New York City are now aborted – nearly twice the national average of 22% – according to the latest New York City Health Department statistics. The Bronx has the highest abortion-to-live-births ratio with 48%, and 60% of African-American pregnancies in New York City were aborted in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available. In a 10-year period beginning in 2000, more than 900,000 pregnancies in the city ended in abortion- nearly one-eighth of the entire city population of just over 8 million.
The entire survey, including crosstabs, is available here. The Chiaroscuro Foundation is encouraging people and organizations on all sides of the abortion debate to study and use the research for public good.
“When New Yorkers learn how many abortions are taking pace in their city every year, they are shocked,” said Greg Pfundstein, Executive Director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “Pro-choice and pro-life New Yorkers overwhelmingly agree that the 41% abortion ratio is too high. That is why is the Chiaroscuro Foundation and others have been asking Mayor Bloomberg to address this as a public health crisis as serious as any other in the city. We have yet to receive a response.”
New Yorkers agree that New Yorkers deserve better.
A (now torn down) billboard is not an atrocity. It is an education.