Dear Senator DeLuca,

I am writing to correct some misinformation in Ms. Knearl's email to you about HB 80 last week.

First, it is absolutely true that 46% of Delaware abortions were performed on girls and women from out of state in 2008, the last year for which we have data. See the explanation below in which we prove it, using Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute's data.

Second, her data on age are completely wrong, as they are based on the Delaware Department of Health numbers, which are almost 3,000 abortions lower than the ones provided by Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute. (You will see below that Guttmacher states that an abortion provider has been under-reporting by thousands of abortions per year.)

I have left a message for Ms. Knearl and offered to walk her through the numbers below from her organization's research arm's website. I hope to hear back from her soon.

Please see my responses in red to each point within her email (her email is in black) below. Two documents from Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute are attached, so you can confirm our numbers yourself.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration. I would be happy to meet with you to explain the information we've shared.

Ellen Barrosse
President
A Rose and a Prayer

Attachments:
Abortion_Incidence_and_Access_2008.pdf
Delaware_Abortion_Stats.pdf

From: Knearl, Emily [eknearl@ppde.org]

Subject: abortion data fact sheet/parental notification

Good afternoon. There has been a lot of inaccurate information on out-of-state abortion data and parental notification in the past two months. Two quick facts: Delaware already has a parental notification statute and young women are not crossing the state borders in large numbers to get an abortion. Please see below and do not hesitate to reach out if questions.

· According to the state of Delaware, more than 90% of abortions are for women age 18 and over. Delaware is NOT a haven for out-of-state abortions for young women; abortions for out-of-state young women under the age of 18 account for only 2.5% of all abortions. The Guttmacher institute never reported the out-of state abortion rate is 46% and they do not know where that number came from or why it is being attributed to them.

In the attached "Abortion Incidence and Access 2008" document by Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute, you can read, on page 43 that:

"Delaware had the highest abortion rate in 2008 (40 per 1,000 women), partly because of a 37% increase in the number of abortions (Table 2, page 44). Most of this increase can be attributed to one provider that acknowledged underreporting abortions in the 2005 survey."

Not only did that abortion provider under-report for 2004 and 2005 to Guttmancher, he also under-reported to state health officials in 2008. That under-report makes all state data referring to age and race inaccurate.

And on page 48 of the Guttmacher report:

"Delaware's abortion rate is twice the national average and reflects, in part, that residents of other states obtain abortions in Delaware. " (Bolding mine.)

The Guttmacher Institute provided the data from which we use simple math to obtain the 46% statistic that we are publicizing.

To do the math, first see the data on the attached "Create a Table," printed from Guttmacher's website:

· 7,070 abortions were performed in Delaware in 2008. (The State of Delaware reports only 4,180 abortions in this period, because of the underreporting.)

· Of those 7,070, Guttmacher says 3,840 were performed on Delaware women.

· That leaves 7,070 minus 3,840—or 3,230 abortions performed on girls and women from out of state.

· 3,230 (the out of state number) is 46% of 7,070.

· In Delaware, young women (age 17 and under) only account for 8.2 of all abortions, and young women 15 and under only account for 1.6 % of all abortions.

This statement relies on the discredited State of Delaware data (See above where Guttmacher says that one of the providers was significantly under-reporting abortions.). Guttmacher does not report age or race data by state, so no one has accurate age data for Delaware.

· Delaware already has a parental notification statute and it is considered a national model. The parental notification statute says:

• A parent or grandparent must be notified 24 hours in advance for teens lessthan 16 years of age. The law allows teens to consult Family Court or a mental health professional if they feel unable or unsafe notifying a parent or grandparent. The mental health professional and Family Court must follow specific steps to ensure the teen is mature enough to make the abortion decision; including reviewing the reason for the teen's bypassing the parents and mature consideration of her options.

In fact, Delaware's notification law is the weakest in the US. It covers only girls 15 and under, but worse, it allows caring parents to be bypassed if their daughter instead chooses to notify a mental-health professional.

• Delaware prohibits coercion by parent, guardian or any other person to have or not have an abortion.
  · Tile 24, Chapter 17, Section 1780 – 1789B

· The analogy to tanning requirements is false. The American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Dermatology all recommend no tanning for anyone under 18. There is no such recommendation for abortion as it is one of the safest medical procedures. In addition, abortion is a medical procedure and tanning is a cosmetic decision—totally different things.

Most Delaware parents consider it more critical to be involved in their daughter's crisis pregnancy than to be involved in her decision to tan.

Emily Knearl

VP for Public Affairs
Planned Parenthood of Delaware
Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Delaware
625 Shipley Street
Wilm, DE 19801
P: 302-655-7296, ext. 1036
C: 302-507-3662
F: 302-655-1907