Abortion Rates Continue to Decline and Other New Findings…
The Guttmacher Institute just released an unbelievably useful and thorough new study examining the results from their census of abortion providers nationwide. Guttmacher has conducted this study regularly since the 1970s. The 2005 study surveyed 1,787 abortion providers. The full study is available online here and more information, including state-specific fact sheets, can be found online here.
Some of the key findings from the census include:
The abortion rate in the United States continues to decline. In 2005, the U.S. abortion rate fell to its lowest level since 1974, with a rate of 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The abortion rate peaked at 29.3 in 1981 and has steadily declined ever since.
The number of abortion providers continues to decline, though at a slower rate than in previous years. The number of abortion providers in the United States fell 2% from 1,819 in 2000 to 1,787 in 2005. This decline is one of the reasons why women continue to face difficulty in accessing a needed provider. Nearly 35% of women ages 15 to 44 were living in one of the 87% of counties nationwide that did not have an abortion provider in 2005.
Medication abortion (mifepristone) use is growing. The proportion of all abortions that are medication abortion procedures increased substantially between 2000 and 2005, with more providers offering the service even when they do not offer surgical abortion services. In total, medication abortion accounted for 13% of all abortions and 22% of eligible abortions (before nine weeks’ gestation) in 2005.
More effort is needed to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion. Despite recent declines in abortion rates, slightly more than one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2005, indicating that much more still needs to be done to help women and their partners avoid unintended pregnancy. Half of American women aged 15-44 have experienced an unintended pregnancy, and about one in three will have had an abortion by the time they reach age 45.
Much Kudos to Guttmacher for releasing this valuable information; make sure to check it out!
By Myra Batchelder