Religious leaders call for renewed fight against abortion in New York

NY religious leaders decry high abortion rate

Religious leaders led by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan on Thursday called for a renewed campaign to lower down the "downright chilling" abortion rate in New York. The city has recorded an average of 90,000 abortions a year on average which constitute 40 percent of all pregnancies in the city. That percentage is twice the national average. Among black women, the percentage is even higher -- 60 percent.

In a news conference, Archbishop Dolan said that he will work with the city's other religious leaders to curb abortion. "Let's see to it that abortion is rare," he said, a notably more realistic stance compared to aiming for totally abolishing abortion in New York.

Dolan said that church leaders must do their part despite the fact that the odds that abortion will continue is not exactly on their favor. "We have to tell people what is happening here. I'm frankly embarrassed to be a member of a community where 41 percent of pregnancies are terminated."

A protest by the National Organization for Women was held outside the conference, with group members distributing flyers about family planning.

The conference was sponsored by the non-profit Chiaroscuro Foundation, which plans to spend a million dollars to put up counselling centers in New York City and extend financial aid to pregnant women to help trim down abortion rates.

During the past few years, the Catholic Church has stepped up efforts to end Medicaid support for abortion. Every year, Catholic bishops hold a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court for it to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion.

Posted by George Daniels on Saturday January 08 2011, 2:14 AM EDT. Ref: NY Times. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0