New Information on 1997 U.S. Abortions Abortions Down, Especially among Teens.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

A recently released government report examining U.S. abortion data from the year 1997 contains some encouraging news. The report not only confirms that the absolute number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. is down, but also shows that the abortion rate is declining. Teens are showing some of the greatest decreases.

The June 6, 2001, report from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is entitled "Trends in Pregnancy Rates for the United States, 1976-1997: An Update." Researchers for NCHS agree with figures released late last year by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), concluding that there were 1,328,000 abortions performed in 1997.

This is the lowest figure reported by AGI in twenty years. As recently as 1990, there were more than 1.6 million abortions a year.

According the NCHS data, 21.4% (or just over a fifth) of all pregnancies ended in abortion in 1997. While this is obviously tragic, this does represent significant improvement from the time when a quarter, or even a third, of all babies were being aborted.

How about the abortion "rate," the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (ages 15-44)? In 1997 the abortion rate was 22.2/1,000 - - a 19% drop from what it was in 1990 - - the lowest figure recorded for the entire 1976-1997 study period.

While abortion rates fell across all age categories, some of the most significant declines were reported among teens.

The 1997 abortion rate was 27.5 abortions for every 1,000 teens aged 15-19. This constituted a drop of nearly one-third from the 40.3/1,000 abortion rate recorded in 1990.