Abortion rate is lowest in 20 years

Christian Century, Jan 26, 2000

The number of legal abortions in the United States dropped to its lowest rate in 20 years in 1997, the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said January 6.

About 1.2 million legal abortions were reported to the CDC in 1997 (the latest year for which figures are available), a 3 percent decrease from 1996 and the lowest number since 1975. The CDC pointed to a decline in unplanned pregnancies, attitude changes about abortions and reduced access to the procedure as factors that could have influenced the drop in numbers.

In previous years the CDC report included only the total number of abortions from states, but this year the report included for the first time information from some states about drug-induced abortions and those performed through surgery. Sixteen states reported 2,988 drug-induced abortions in 1997, but the CDC said that could be an undercount since some studies have estimated that about 4,300 drug-induced abortions were performed within the first six months of 1997 alone.

The CDC also reported that slightly more than half of women who received an abortion in 1997--52 percent--were 24 years of age or younger, and most were white and unmarried. Fifty-five percent of the procedures were completed within the first two months of pregnancy. Final statistics on abortions in 1997--including each state's total number of abortions--will be made public in the summer.--RNS