CNN has an article dealing with the attempts to limit abortion in Mississippi, and the attempts to close the one remaining abortion clinic in that state.

I do not intend to support abortion clinics. I find it repulsive, and it is a difficult moral issue to balance my dislike for abortion with the rights and respect due to pregnant women.

Having said that, I find it intriguing that in juxtaposition with the article above, Mississippi has the highest rate of teen (14-19) births in the country. I would think if your concern were morality, this is a symptom of a wider problem and there would be better ways to attack it rather than the abortion clinic.

For information on teen pregnancy, and much more, see the CDC National Vital Statistics report for births in 2002.

By the way, if you are intrigued as to how the teenage birth rate corresponds to the moral red states vs the immoral, liberal blue states, the following chart might be interesting. The chart shows teen birth rates per 1000, with a national average of 43.

If you would like a more detailed discussion of this data, see http://www.itaffectsyou.org/blog/index.php?p=146.

Statistical issues are examined, and analysis of birth rates (which the chart above shows) versus pregnancy rates shows a dramatic correlation. In other words, the birth rates are not higher in the south because of lower abortion rates. There is some interesting statistical analysis buried in the commentary on that page.