New Abortion Numbers

I'm responding to Rick's post about the new Guttmacher numbers, which I'm sure we all agree are welcome.  Apropos of our discussion before the new year about the connection between morality and legality, the LA Times (via Kevin Drum) had this nugget:

Some of the biggest drops in the abortion rate, however, have come in states that do not impose tight restrictions. Oregon, for instance, was rated this week by Americans United for Life as the nation's "least pro-life state," yet its abortion rate dropped 25% from 2000 to 2005 — more than any state except Wyoming.  California also was ranked hostile territory by Americans United for Life, but its abortion rate fell 13%, significantly more than the national average. "Abortion rate" refers to the number of abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age.

Now, this is not exactly on point, since our discussion was about the effectiveness of prohibition and (for the moment) states are not permitted to ban abortion, but it does suggest that there's a lot of low hanging fruit out there that permit significant drops in the abortion rate without legal prohibition, or even restriction.