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Induced Abortion
Revised 2/2000
INCIDENCE OF ABORTION
- 49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; 1/2 of these are terminated by abortion.
- In 1997, 1.33 million abortions took place, down from an estimated 1.61 million in 1990. From 1973 through 1997, more than 35 million legal abortions occurred.
- Each year, 2 out of every 100 women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion and 55% have had a previous birth.
- An estimated 43% of women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old.
- Each year, an estimated 50 million abortions occur worldwide. Of these, 20 million procedures are obtained illegally.
The number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, by year |
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WHO HAS ABORTIONS
- 52% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 20%.
- While white women obtain 58% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.
- Catholic women are 29% more likely than Protestants to have an abortion, but are about as likely as all women nationally to do so.
- 2/3 of all abortions are among never-married women.
- On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.
- About 13,000 women have abortions each year following rape or incest.
CONTRACEPTIVE USE
- 58% of women having abortions in 1995 had used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant.
- 11% of women having abortions have never used a method of birth control; nonuse is greatest among those who are young, unmarried, poor, black, Hispanic or poorly educated.
- 9 in 10 women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using a contraceptive method.
- 49% of the 6.3 million pregnancies that occur each year are unplanned; 47% of these occur among the 7% of women at risk of unintended pregnancy who do not practice contraception.
PROVIDERS AND SERVICES
- 93% of U.S. abortions are performed in clinics or doctors' offices.
- The number of abortion providers declined by 14% between 1992 and 1996 (from 2,380 to 2,042). 86% of all U.S. counties lacked an abortion provider in 1996. These counties were home to 32% of all 15-44-year-old women.
- 43% of all abortion facilities provide services only through the 12th week of pregnancy.
- 42% of nonhospital facilities provided abortions to women less than six weeks pregnant in 1996, a 27% increase since 1992, when only one-third (33%) provided such early abortions.
- In 1997, the cost of a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks of gestation ranged from $150 to 1,535, and the average amount paid was $316.
- In nonhospital facilities offering both surgical and medical abortion in 1997, the cost of medical abortion ranged from $100 to $1,250, and the average was $401; the average cost of a surgical abortion was $355.
- About 4,200 medical abortions were performed in 1996 and 4,300 in the first half of 1997; these procedures involved the use of mifepristone and methotrexate (in clinical trials or off-label use).
- 12% of all nonhospital abortion providers offered their patients medical abortion in 1997 (163 providers).
- 43% of nonhospital facilities indicated in 1997 that they would probably provide medical abortions within the next year if the Federal Drug Administration approved mifepristone; 29% said they would do so even if mifepristone were not approved, by using methotrexate.
- 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage.
When Women Have Abortions (in weeks) |
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SAFETY OF ABORTION
- The risk of abortion complications is minimal; less than 1% of all abortion patients experience a major complication, such as serious pelvic infection, hemorrhage requiring a blood transfusion or unintended major surgery.
- There is no evidence of childbearing problems among women who have had a vacuum aspiration abortion, the most common procedure, within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- The risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pregnancy, from 1 death for every 530,000 abortions at 8 or fewer weeks to 1 per 17,000 at 16-20 weeks and 1 per 6,000 at 21 or more weeks.
- The risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion.
- Almost half of the women having abortions beyond 15 weeks of gestation say they were delayed because of problems in affording, finding or getting to abortion services.
- Teens are more likely than older women to delay having an abortion until after 16 weeks of pregnancy, when medical risks associated with abortion increase significantly.
LAW AND POLICY
- In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that women, in consultation with their physician, have a constitutionally protected right to have an abortion in the early stages of pregnancy--that is, before viability--free from government interference.
- In 1992, the Court upheld the right to abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. However, the ruling significantly weakened the legal protections previously afforded women and physicians by giving states the right to enact restrictions that do not create an "undue burden" for women seeking abortion.
- The most common restrictions in effect are parental involvement requirements, mandatory counseling and waiting periods, and limitations on public funding.
- 31 states currently enforce parental consent or notification laws for minors seeking an abortion: AL, AR, DE, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA,WI, WV, and WY. The Supreme Court ruled that minors must have the alternative of seeking a court order authorizing the procedure.
- 45% of minors who have abortions tell their parents, and 61% undergo the procedure with at least one parent's knowledge. The great majority of parents support their daughter's decision.
PUBLIC FUNDING
- The U.S. Congress has barred the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortions, except when the woman's life would be endangered by a full-term pregnancy or in cases of rape or incest.
- About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 19 states (AL, AZ, CA, CT, HI, ID, IL, MA, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.
- Without publicly funded family planning services, an estimated 1.3 million additional unplanned pregnancies would occur annually; about 632,300 would end in abortion--at least a 40% increase in the incidence.
Sources of Data
The data in this fact sheet are the most current available. Most of the data are from research conducted by The Alan Guttmacher Institute and/or published in its peer-reviewed journal, Family Planning Perspectives. An additional source is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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