NPR leaves us in the dark

The NPR story Conservatives Step Up Attacks On Public Funding For Birth Control takes the usual route, replaying Conservative and Liberal positions on funding birth control and the abortion issue, but then makes two sad attempts at shedding light on the debate. First attempt:

Abortion opponents are correct that widespread access to birth control hasn't eliminated abortions in the U.S. — although the number has declined considerably over the last two decades.

The author assumes that (1) eliminating abortion was the goal and that (2) such a thing is possible. Both assumptions are incorrect. Furthermore, the line could have been more honestly written as, "Birth control advocates are correct that the number of abortions performed has dropped dramatically due to widespread access to birth control".

The second attempt to shed light on this debate comes at the end of the piece:

Still, the question remains, why is it only now that objections to birth control are being raised in public? John Green, a political science professor who studies religion and politics at the University of Akron, says he thinks it has a lot to do with the recent battles over federal spending in general, and the new health law in particular.

The author doesn't pursue this theory to its end by asking why the budget battles even started under Obama. This is a reasonable question given the fact that (1) the US has run a budget deficit since Reagan held office 30 years ago and (2) the current Recession was not caused by Government Debt. She did not point out that budgets only become the big issue when a Democrat occupies the White House; the last threat at Government shutdown came under Clinton.

This is poor reporting. If the author was investigating a murder, she might ask "Why did the suspect kill the victim?" and receive the answer "Because the victim made him mad." Shouldn't she then ask, What did the victim do to make him mad?