Red Family, Blue Family

A fair number of the desperate patients who need abortions who have the bad luck of being stuck in red states have to travel to New York and similar so-called "blue" places to get the medical procedure done. Each time this happens, does that show up in Douthat's stats as a "higher" abortion rate in New York and a "lower" rate in whatever red state the poor woman came from?

It would comfort me if Ross Douthat proved himself capable of original thought.

I think you have found a flaw in his reasoning. I suspect that it is not unique.