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Abortions Drop 24% as U.S. Teen Pregnancies Dropped (Update2)
By Tom Randall
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- The number of abortions in the U.S. fell 24 percent in 14 years as pregnancies among young women declined, a U.S. study found.
Abortions dropped to 1.22 million in 2004 from 1.61 million in 1990, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen pregnancies, which end in abortion more often than pregnancies in older women, dropped 38 percent, the study said.
The abortion rate among women ages 15 to 44 has been declining steadily since an all-time peak of 29.4 per 1,000 women in 1980 to 19.7 per 1,000 in 2004, according to the report. Women are having children at later ages and are also more likely to use contraceptives to plan pregnancies, said Stephanie Ventura, the study's lead author.
``There's been a tendency for women to postpone child bearing and delay the start of their families,'' said Ventura, chief of reproductive statistics at the CDC. The lower abortion rate reflects ``a lot of different reasons: changes in access to abortion, changes in attitudes about having a baby and a decline in teenage pregnancies, which end in abortion in many cases.''
Unmarried women also had fewer abortions in 2004 than in 1990, according to the study. Pregnancies among unmarried women increased to 2.8 million from 2.7 million, and 35 percent of those pregnancies ended in abortion, down from 47 percent, the Atlanta-based CDC said.
Almost half of the women who became pregnant in 2004 were unmarried, the study said. The total number of pregnancies in the U.S. decreased six percent to 6.4 million from 6.8 million.
Other Studies
The report is consistent with other studies that show abortions declining worldwide. An Oct. 12 study in the journal Lancet found an estimated 42 million abortions worldwide in 2003, compared with 46 million in 1995. Europe led the decline as the Eastern European former Soviet Union states adopted contraceptives.
A January study by the Guttmacher Institute in New York, a nonprofit group focused on reproductive health, said the U.S. abortion rate fell to its lowest in more than 30 years in 2005 as the number of doctors who perform the operations declined. There were 1.2 million abortions, or 19.4 for every 1,000 women of reproductive age, compared with 1.6 million, or 27.4 per 1,000 in 1990, according to the report.
By Tom Randall
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- The number of abortions in the U.S. fell 24 percent in 14 years as pregnancies among young women declined, a U.S. study found.
Abortions dropped to 1.22 million in 2004 from 1.61 million in 1990, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen pregnancies, which end in abortion more often than pregnancies in older women, dropped 38 percent, the study said.
The abortion rate among women ages 15 to 44 has been declining steadily since an all-time peak of 29.4 per 1,000 women in 1980 to 19.7 per 1,000 in 2004, according to the report. Women are having children at later ages and are also more likely to use contraceptives to plan pregnancies, said Stephanie Ventura, the study's lead author.
``There's been a tendency for women to postpone child bearing and delay the start of their families,'' said Ventura, chief of reproductive statistics at the CDC. The lower abortion rate reflects ``a lot of different reasons: changes in access to abortion, changes in attitudes about having a baby and a decline in teenage pregnancies, which end in abortion in many cases.''
Unmarried women also had fewer abortions in 2004 than in 1990, according to the study. Pregnancies among unmarried women increased to 2.8 million from 2.7 million, and 35 percent of those pregnancies ended in abortion, down from 47 percent, the Atlanta-based CDC said.
Almost half of the women who became pregnant in 2004 were unmarried, the study said. The total number of pregnancies in the U.S. decreased six percent to 6.4 million from 6.8 million.
Other Studies
The report is consistent with other studies that show abortions declining worldwide. An Oct. 12 study in the journal Lancet found an estimated 42 million abortions worldwide in 2003, compared with 46 million in 1995. Europe led the decline as the Eastern European former Soviet Union states adopted contraceptives.
A January study by the Guttmacher Institute in New York, a nonprofit group focused on reproductive health, said the U.S. abortion rate fell to its lowest in more than 30 years in 2005 as the number of doctors who perform the operations declined. There were 1.2 million abortions, or 19.4 for every 1,000 women of reproductive age, compared with 1.6 million, or 27.4 per 1,000 in 1990, according to the report.
