[grellis]

The most accurate statistics regarding abortion are kept by the Department of Health and Human Services, and their most recent, complete and comprehensive data is for the year 1997. Here's the skinny:

NUMBER OF ABORTIONS

Number of reported abortions: 1,186,039

Number per 1,000 live births: 306

PERCENT OF TOTAL

Race

White 58.5%

Black 35.9

Other 5.7

Marital status

Married 19%

Unmarried 81

Age

Under 20 20.1%

20-24 31.7

25 or older 48.2

Weeks of gestation

Up to 8 55.4%

9-10 22

11-12 10.7

13-15 6.2

16-20 4.3

21 or more 1.4

Minorities do, in fact, have a greater number of abortions in proportion to their percentage of population. Margaret Sanger would be proud.

Some statistics which I have been unable to track down include the number or percentage of abortions performed to save the life of a mother and the number of abortions performed on women who have survived rape (including incest). If anyone has solid numbers regarding these statistics, please freep me.

[JenB]

Those figures are very helpful; it's nice to have solid facts as well as the emotional arguments. We are, as several posters have suggested, looking at the link between abortion and breast cancer, as well as the fact that so many of the abortion cases, like Roe v. Wade, seem to have been based on lies....