January 22, 2005
Abortion: Getting the Facts Straight
From the Allan Guttmacher Institute (props to Joshua for the link):
• 49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; 1/2 of these are terminated by abortion.
• In 2000, 1.31 million abortions took place, down from an estimated 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2000, more than 39 million legal abortions occurred.
• Each year, 2 out of every 100 women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 48% of them have had at least one previous abortion and 61% have had a previous birth.
• 52% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 19%.
• Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2 1/2 times as likely.
• 43% of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% identify themselves as Catholic.
• 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.
• 54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use.
• 9 in 10 women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using a contraceptive method.
From a PowerPoint presentation from the AGI website comes the breakdown of the most important reasons given for obtaining an abortion:
Inadequate finances 21%
Not ready for responsibility 21%
Woman’s life would be changed too much 16%
Problems with relationship; unmarried 12%
Too young; not mature enough 11%
Children are grown; woman has all she wants 8%
Fetus has possible health problem 3%
Woman has health problem 3%
Pregnancy caused by rape, incest 1%
Other 4%
[Note: AGI is avowedly pro-choice, so these statistics are not from the "small and wacko fringe", that is to say, those of us who oppose the practice of abortion.]
Posted by Clifton at January 22, 2005 07:56 AM | TrackBack