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Pyhrric Victory?

Written By: William F. B. O'Reilly - Jan• 08•11

Some truly frightening statistics just came out of the New York City Health Department.  They were quietly released at year’s end, tucked between reams of other health data.

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, these numbers have to disturb you:

Forty-one percent of all pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion in 2009 – 48% of pregnancies in the Bronx.  Sixty percent of all pregnancies among black New Yorkers were terminated in ‘09. Sixty percent.

I was privileged to help arrange a news conference this week featuring New York City Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan and other religious and civic leaders to alert the public to these statistics.  Much to its credit, the New York City press corps attended in great numbers to report the alarming news.

But these ratios, it turns out, are not unusual.  The rate of aborted pregnancies in New York City has remained well above the national rate of 23% for years (that number startled me, too.).

In the last 10-year period reported, more than 925,000 abortions were performed in New York City.  That’s almost a million abortions in a city of eight million.

Good God.

The news conference, sponsored by the Chiaroscuro Foundation, was intended to seek common ground between the pro-life and pro-choice communities in an effort to reduce the number of aborted pregnancies over time.

Greeting us as we arrived were ready and raucous protesters from the National Organization for Women.

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