The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data yesterday showing that the US still has the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. And the new global abortion study from the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (that’s published in the Jan. 19 issue of The Lancet) found that abortion rates are highest where the procedure is illegal, such as in Latin America and Africa, and that 95 to 97 percent of abortions in those regions were unsafe. According to the LA Times, “Experts couldn’t say whether more liberal laws led to fewer procedures, but said good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.”
In the face of numbers like these, in this day and age, it is absolutely insane that every single Republican presidential candidate is ready and willing to lead the fight against keeping abortions safe and birth control accessible.