When asked about abortion in yesterday’s Presidential debate Rudy Giuliani referred to, as he frequently does, the need to emphasize adoption as an abortion alternative. This is something that pro-lifers have always supported, but many of Rudy’s adoption claims leave questions that need to be answered.

First is his claim that adoption number rose during his time as mayor of New York City:

When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65 to 70 percent; abortions went down 16 percent.

But that may be a bit of an exaggeration. This claim by Giuliani lead the nonpartisan political watchdog, FactCheck.org, to investigate the actual numbers and found that:

* Adoptions more than doubled in the five years prior to Giuliani.
* Adoptions had already increased by 257 percent in the seven years prior to creation of ACS [Administration for Children’s Services, which Giuliani created in 1996 to protect children and encourage adoption], the agency Giuliani credits with increasing adoptions.
* Adoptions initially peaked, then declined by 26 percent between
the time ACS was created and the end of Giuliani’s tenure.
* Adoptions declined in five of the mayor’s last six years.
* Adoptions have continued to decline thereafter, and in the most recent fiscal year were half what they were when ACS was created.

You can see by the chart below (from factcheck) that adoptions were sharply rising for several years before Giuliani took office, peaked in his third year and declined in each of his last five years. In his last year adoptions were only 17% higher than they were the year before his first budget took effect – and over 20% lower than they were when the ACS was created – and they have been declining ever since.

By pointing out the inaccuracies of the former mayor’s claims, Fact Check is not saying that either Giuliani or the agency he started are responsible for this downward trend. Rather, “What we are saying is that Giuliani persists in using statistical trickery.”

Rudy Giuliani has also defended his past support for Planned Parenthood because:

“Planned Parenthood makes [adoption] information available,” Giuliani told Ingraham on her radio show. “It’s consistent with my position.”

“I think it’s wrong [but] I think there should be a choice. If there is going to be a choice, there are organizations that are going to give people information about that choice.”

“I just as strongly support the idea that a woman should have information about adoption at that time,” he added.

To truly be consistent with his position, PP would have to promote adoption as a way of reducing abortion numbers, but this type of promotion is not reflected in their annual reports. In the latest report, for 2005, PP reported 264,943 abortion procedures up from 2004 by 9,928. In 2004 PP reported only 1,414 adoption referrals, but adoption referrals were not even mentioned in the 2005 report. If they do promote or offer adoption information it is not very effective.

These are, I think, attempts on Giuliani’s part to assure pro-lifers that, while he respects a woman’s right to choose to kill her unborn child, he still thinks that abortion is “bad” and its numbers should be reduced, and we should not fall for it.

Pro-Life Republicans Beware