'...rates of abortion (the number of abortions per 1,000 women) are relatively unaffected by whether it is legal. Thus, in South America, where abortion is largely illegal, the rate is 33; in northern America, where it is legal, the rate is 21. "The legal status of abortion doesn't predict whether abortions occur," study co-author Gilda Sedgh told me by phone. "It predicts whether they are safe...

...there is basically only one thing that lowers the rate of abortion for more than the minute and a half it takes women to figure out how to evade a new legal restriction: contraception. The countries with the lowest abortion rates, like the Netherlands, have few abortion restrictions and lots of birth control...' With Facts on Our Side

Those who want to reduce the number of abortions carried out (and don't we all?) should be focusing on use of contraception, rather than the law, shouldn't they?

For a vivid illustration of the abortion rate, take a look at something called World Clock (click the NOW button at upper right to reset; the abortion counter appears just below the box outline). Disclaimer -- I don't know their data source(s) or how up-to-date it is.

Contraception isn't real popular where Roman Catholics or Protestant fundamentalists hold sway. You and I might agree that contraception is good because we feel a moral imperative to control overpopulation -- a rational-seeming sense of social conscience -- but that view unfortunately isn't shared universally -- so we're back to force of law / government mandate. That approach may have worked in China, but won't play in the US.