WASHINGTON (May 3, 2006)—Deirdre A. McQuade, an official of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) criticized the latest report by the Guttmacher Institute, "Abortion in Women's Lives."

"The report tries to maintain an impossible balancing act: claiming the goal of reducing abortions, while at the same time calling for more aggressive promotion of abortion services," said Ms. McQuade, Director of Planning and Information at the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. "But how could more unregulated abortion do anything but increase abortion rates?"

"The authors also claim that widespread access to contraception clearly leads to lower abortion rates," Ms. McQuade noted. "Yet Guttmacher's own data show there is no correlation between the two. States ranking highest for access to contraceptive services, including California and New York, also rank highest in abortion rates. Others that Guttmacher considers weak in contraceptive services, such as Kansas and the Dakotas, have among the lowest abortion rates in the country."

"Those states have reduced their abortion rates, in part, by choosing not to subsidize abortion, and ensuring informed consent for women and parental involvement for minors seeking abortions – policies which the Guttmacher report demands be rescinded," she explained.

"It is time to question the assumptions of Planned Parenthood, and instead devote our resources to helping women and couples so that abortion is not seen as their best – or only – option," Ms. McQuade said.

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