For months now, pro-choice activists have resisted those pro-life Democrats who said they wanted to “reduce the number” of abortions. No, no, they said, the goal should be “reducing the need” for abortion, a goal that’s less stigmatizing to women who have abortions.

Did President Obama tell Pope Benedict point blank that he wants to reduce the number?
So says the Pope’s spokesman, Federico Lombard, who explained, “The pontiff told me that President Obama affirmed his personal commitment to try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States.”
Of course it’s also possible that the painstaking nuanced differences between “reducing the need” and “reducing the number” got lost in the translation.