Contact: Colin Mason, Population Research Institute, 540-622-5240 ext 209, pri@pop.org

FRONT ROYAL, Va., Oct. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Guttmacher Institute's latest report on world abortion rates is a self-serving fantasy, says Population Research Institute President Steven W. Mosher. The study, just released today, argues that 42 million abortions were performed in 2003, most in developing countries.

Accurate numbers are impossible to glean from developing countries, however, where abortion is generally illegal. Says Mosher: "Neither Guttmacher nor anyone else knows how many abortions have been performed worldwide in this year or any other year."

"In Columbia, Guttmacher reports hundreds of thousands of abortions," Mosher says. "Yet PRI was recently informed by the Columbian Vice Minister for Health that the Ministry has performed only about 50 abortions since the legalization of abortion last May. This is several orders of magnitude smaller than Guttmacher claims."

According to Mosher, Guttmacher "deliberately exaggerates the magnitude of the problem in order to create the impression of a 'health crisis.' After all, the more women they can claim have 'unsafe' abortions, the more women they can claim die as a result."

"As the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the Alan Guttmacher Institute necessarily reflects the agenda of its parent organization, which is to impose abortion on demand on countries around the world."

The Population Research Institute (PRI) was founded in 1989 by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, PhD and is dedicated to: (1) ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning", (2) opposing outdated social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of overpopulation, (3) informing the public about the social and economic benefits of moderate population growth, and (4) promoting pro-natal and pro-family attitudes and policies worldwide. Steven Mosher is the author of numerous books, including A Mother's Ordeal, available in 11 languages. His next book is due in the fall of 2007.