Abortions Numbers at Lowest on Record in Pennsylvania

With centers located throughout Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, Real Alternatives offers support and resources with a focus on providing alternatives to abortion for women experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. The nonprofit is a recipient of the Seal of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and adheres to Department of Public Welfare standards. Moreover, Real Alternatives’ efforts helped to reduce the number of abortions in Pennsylvania over the last few years.

According to a December 2018 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, abortions reached the lowest number on record at slightly over 30,000 in 2017. This represents a decrease of 870 from the previous year and marks a considerable improvement from the all-time high of nearly 66,000 abortions in 1980. While this news demonstrates a positive trend, many organizations are working diligently to reduce the number even further.

Among them is Real Alternatives, which has provided free pregnancy support services and information on abortion alternatives over the course of more than two decades. It operates the toll-free number 1-888-LIFE AID and collaborates with adoption homes, pregnancy centers, and Catholic charity centers throughout the states that it serves. Since its inception, it has assisted over 300,000 women.

How Ultrasound Technology Has Transformed Discussions of Abortion

A nonprofit organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives has helped hundreds of thousands of women through a compassionate approach that makes it easier to choose life over abortion. Now an official partner with government social services agencies in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, Real Alternatives also offers extensive information on the development of babies in utero as a resource for women contemplating abortion.

Ultrasounds, now a staple of prenatal medical care, provide detailed views of the development of an unborn child. In fact, the precision of ultrasound technology played a significant role in increasing public support for the pro-life viewpoint, as it enabled a new generation to see that unborn babies possess the physical characteristics of full human beings. As such, science has transformed the public conversation about abortion.

For example, in its 1973 decision on abortion, the US Supreme Court relied on then-current medical thinking that an unborn child stood a chance of achieving viability outside the womb at 28 weeks. Today’s advances have moved that figure closer to only 22 weeks.

A range of recent surveys show the influence of ultrasound technology on the public’s views on abortion. One of these, produced by the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, reported that almost 80 percent of women surveyed chose to have their babies after viewing an ultrasound photograph of their child in the womb.

Advice for Women Pressured to Have an Abortion

Real Alternatives has assisted upward of 300,000 women with crisis pregnancy services. The Pennsylvania-based nonprofit partners with government social service agencies in three states to deliver the help that can make all the difference in a woman’s choice to keep her baby.

Real Alternatives wants to be sure this message goes out to women in crisis: It is against the law to force any woman to undergo an abortion. No one, not the baby’s father, and not even her own parents if she is a minor, can make that decision for her. No doctor is permitted to perform an abortion without the individual woman’s informed consent; to do so means risking loss of his or her medical license.

Women unwilling to go through with an abortion should tell every staff member that they have not agreed to the procedure. If a physician attempts to perform the procedure, the woman - even if she is not yet 18 - has the right to say no. She can additionally tell the physician that she intends to file a lawsuit should she be forced into an abortion.

Trained, empathetic counselors are available at 1-888-LIFE-AID at any time of the day or night, to help women understand their rights and options, and to connect them with financial and social service support.