The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), which is associated with the PPFA, claimed that the abortion rate had declined 10 percent between 1992 and 1996 and gave the credit to "the fruit of years of work by groups like Planned Parenthood." Jim Sedlak of STOPP International said the facts don't support the claims. "PPFA has been at the forefront in pushing surgical abortions. In 1992, Planned Parenthood performed 130,844 surgical abortions. By 1996, that number had increased to 153,367," said Sedlak. "That's a 17 percent increase at PPFA, while the country as a whole was seeing a 10 percent reduction. Just this year, Planned Parenthood has opened, or is opening, seven new surgical abortion facilities."

The Family Research Council's Teresa Wagner said that while the news of a decline is encouraging, the reasons behind the decline deserve investigation. She said the real reason is "not due to new abortion-inducing drugs disguised as contraceptives or the threat of so-called anti-abortion violence against abortionists, as AGI contends." She added, "Rather, it is the tireless work and growth of crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life ad campaigns organized by the Caring Foundation and other pro-life groups, and increasing acceptance of abstinence among young people that is most responsible for the decrease in our nation's abortion rate."