Forty percent of pregnancies in New York City ending in abortion

Figures from the local Department of Health indicate that the rate of abortion in New York City has exceeded 40% in recent years. In other words, nearly one in two of all known pregnancies in the five boroughs of New York City ends with an abortion. (Via CBS News.)

It’s beyond words, really, but you have to look for some. What does this say about the level of self-hatred in a society, masquerading as self-will and independence?

And what’s the answer to it? If you occupy one extreme of the abortion debate, you might say, “No answer is needed. A fetus is nothing. Who cares?” At the opposite end, one might maintain that the only solution is a legal ban on abortion — however far away that is from reality.

When it comes to reducing the number of abortions to a proportion that doesn’t instantly turn the stomach of any human with sensitivity and a conscience (i.e. to a level that spares our feelings) it is at least clear, based on the New York City example, what is not the answer.

New York City is the capital of contemporary liberal orthodoxy on such subjects as contraception and sex education — on having the right to do as you please with your own body, and having access to all the non-judgmental knowledge that exists in the world on the subject of sexual practices (enjoyable and otherwise), pregnancy prevention, STD prevention, and on and on and on and on.

And this is the result: over forty percent of pregnancies are being “taken care of” through the procedure of abortion. So implementing the liberal orthodoxy on these matters dose not, in fact, reduce the rate of abortion.

We look around the world and consider ourselves lucky that we don’t live like those savages we see on the news from time to time who kill each other based on the slimmest of motives — slight ethnic and religious differences, etc. Yet, with these numbers, it’s hard to conceive that there is anywhere in the world where life is more cheap than it is right now in New York City — and similar places in America.

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Addendum: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air observes that the figures may not be exactly what they appear, especially because some of the abortions being recorded in New York City are being obtained by people whose residence is not within the five boroughs. It’s important to be clear and factual. But naturally it ameliorates the horror barely at all.