The US abortion rate -- which has been declining since 1990 -- continued to decline in 2001 and 2002, and the number of abortions estimated to have been performed in the country in 2002 is the lowest since 1976, according to a... report conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the Washington Post reports (Sowti, Washington Post, 7/19). According to AGI, which analyzed available government data to generate abortion estimates for the country for 2001 and 2002, about 1.29 million abortions were performed in 2002 and 1.3 million were performed in 2001. An AGI census of U.S. abortion providers found that about 1.31 million abortions were performed in 2000, 1.61 million were performed in 1990 and 1.18 million were performed in 1976 (AGI release, 5/19). The 2002 abortion rate -- the lowest since 1974 -- was 20.9 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, compared to a 1990 rate of 27.4 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (Finer/Henshaw, "Estimates of Abortion Incidence in 2001 and 2002," 5/18). The abortion ratio in 2002 was 242 abortions per 1,000 pregnancies that did not result in miscarriage, compared with a ratio of 245 abortions per 1,000 nonmiscarriage pregnancies in 2000 and 280 abortions per 1,000 in 1990 (Washington Post, 7/19).
Report Details
The AGI report also found that:
- 47% of unintended pregnancies resulted in abortion, and teenagers, low-income women, unmarried women, black women and Latina women are most likely to have unintended pregnancies.
- 40% of all U.S. abortions occurred among white women, 32% were among black women, 20% were among Latina women and 8% occurred among women of other races;
- 56% of women who had abortions in the U.S. were in their 20s, and 19% of women who had abortions in the U.S. were ages 15 to 19, although this percentage has decreased significantly in recent years;
- Nearly 90% of abortions were performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, and fewer than 1% of abortions occurred after 24 weeks gestation;
- 60% of women who had abortions in 2002 already had children;
- About 25% of abortions occurred among unmarried women who lived with a male partner;
- About 60% of women who had abortions in 2000 had incomes of less than 200% of the federal poverty level;
- The number of abortion providers declined 11% between 1996 and 2000, to about 1,800 nationwide; and
- One-third of women ages 15 to 44 lived in a county without an abortion provider in 2000.
Implications
Lawrence Finer, associate director of domestic research at AGI and co-author of the report, said many factors contribute to the country's abortion rate and its recent decline. Changes in contraceptive use, contraceptive technologies, ideas about family size and abortion and access to abortion services, as well as an increase in the number of pregnancy clinics and abstinence programs in the U.S., all potentially factor into the decline in the number of U.S. abortions, according to Finer (Washington Post, 7/19). AGI produced the interim report because of demands for recent data to assess the effect of the Bush administration's policies on abortion, according to the AGI release. However, AGI President and CEO Sharon Camp said, "It takes time for political decisions to be reflected in the statistical data, so it is too soon to tell what the impact of Bush administration policies will be on U.S. abortion rates," adding, "We will be keeping a watchful eye on what our policymakers do both to help and to hinder women's efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancies and how that affects abortion rates going forward" (AGI release, 5/19).
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