Doesn’t negate other

Linda Barnes’ recent letter, regarding a woman’s right to her own body in its entirety, is spot on, and the good news is that woman’s rights do not collide with a desire for fewer abortions.

In a January 2017 analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, the rate of abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women was lower in 2013 and 2014 than before Roe v. Wade. The U.S. population in 1973 (the year of Roe v. Wade) was 203.3 million and there were 615,831 abortions, compared to 2014 when our population was 318.6 million and there were 652,639 abortions.

What that means is that for every 1,000 women, ages 15 to 44, there were 16.3 abortions in 1973 compared to 14.6 in 2014, which means Roe v. Wade did not increase abortions, nor will destroying women’s rights reduce them.

According to Guttmacher and the World Health Organization, developed nations that legalize abortions have lower abortion rates than nations which criminalize abortions because those developed nations beyond our borders also improve women’s opportunities through laws and education; provide science-based reproductive information and the means for a woman to choose when and if she wants a pregnancy; offer quality, universal prenatal care; pass generous maternity leave laws; and provide nursery and pre-kindergarten programs for all children until they enter well-funded public schools.

If Senators Cotton or Boozman or Representative Hill claim we cannot afford programs which actually reduce abortions, they are insincere in their claim to be pro-life and fiscally conservative.

Here is a reminder for them. They voted to increase the debt by more than $1.456 trillion when they passed their 2017 tax bill, a windfall for the wealthy and corporations, while working Arkansans were tossed chump change and the promise of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, as a start.

BOB REYNOLDS

Conway