National abortion numbers not this low since the 1970s
CDC Reports Additional Data on 1997 Abortions

By Randall K. O 'Bannon, Ph.D.
NRL-ETF Director of Education and Research

Releasing further details on 1997 abortions, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed a steady downward trend in the number of abortions performed annually in the United States. The encouraging numbers appeared in the December 8, 2000, edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Whether measured in rate, ratio, or raw numbers, America has not seen abortion figures this low since Roe's first decade.

While revised upward by just over a thousand from the figure reported in the CDC's preliminary report in January,1 the 1,186,039 abortions reported by CDC for 1997 still represent the lowest figure reported by the CDC since 1977.2

The CDC's rates of 20 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age (ages 15-44) reported for 1995, 1996, and 1997 reflected lower annual rates than any seen since 1975. The CDC found a ratio of 306 abortions for every 1,000 live births3 in 1997, again the lowest figure of that sort reported since 1975.

As has been the case in recent years, teens accounted for just over one-fifth (20.1%) of the abortions reported to the CDC. Those 25 years and older increased its share to nearly half (48.2%).

Minorities, unfortunately, continue to be very much overrepresented in CDC abortion statistics. While information from the 1998 Statistical Abstract shows black American women comprising just 14.2% of the overall population of women of childbearing age in 1997, CDC figures show this group as undergoing 35.9% of all the abortions performed that year. The same statistics show the population of Hispanic women aged 15 to 44 as comprising just 11.6% of the total number of women of childbearing age in the U.S. in 1997. Yet Hispanic women accounted for 15.6% of the total number of abortions reported to the CDC.

All told, even though they represent only about a quarter of the women in that age group, black and Hispanic women account for more than half of the abortions performed annually in the United States.

The latest CDC report also offers breakdowns on abortions by state. While the largest numbers of abortions are, not surprisingly, reported by the states with the largest populations (California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Illinois), the highest abortion rates (abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age) were reported by the District of Columbia (68), California (38), New York (35), Delaware (30), Florida (27), and Rhode Island (25).

Other than the District of Columbia, which had more abortions than it did live births(!), the five states with the highest ratios of abortions to 1,000 live births were New York (547), California (525), Delaware (501), Rhode Island (440), and Florida (425).

Several states reported that a large percentage of the abortions performed in their state were done on out-of-state residents. Kansas reported the highest, with 44.2% of abortions on out-of- state residents, followed by the District of Columbia (42.1%), Delaware (34.5%), and North Dakota (32.4%). As a whole, however, the CDC reports more than 9 out of 10 (91.9%) of women in 1997 had their abortions in their home state.

The advent of chemical abortion methods, such as RU486, is also reflected in the CDC's statistics; 2,988 were reported nationwide in 1997. The states reporting the most "nonsurgical" abortions were Michigan (858), New York (746), Pennsylvania (552), and Washington (461). No other state reported more than a hundred.

Overall, the CDC reports that 11.9% of abortions were performed at 13 weeks' gestation or more, with 1.4% being performed at 21 weeks' gestation or greater. The states reporting the highest percentage of abortions at 21 or more weeks of gestation were Kansas (7.2%), Hawaii (3.9%), Washington (2.3%), New Jersey (2.2%), New York (1.8%), and Oregon (1.8%).

One piece of startling information contained in the new CDC report is the high number of repeat abortions. According to the CDC, in the 37 states which recorded such data, at least 48% of those who had abortions in 1997 had at least one prior abortion. Nearly 20% (19.6%) of aborting women had at least two previous abortions, with 7.6% reporting three previous abortions or more.

Notes:

1. CDC, "Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Analysis United States, 1997," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, January 7, 2000.

2. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), which surveys abortion providers directly, generally reports higher numbers of abortions than does the CDC, which relies on reports from state health departments. In 1996, the last year for which Guttmacher released survey results, AGI reported 1,365,730 abortions against a figure of 1,221,585 for the CDC. Because increases and decreases in CDC and AGI numbers have always roughly tracked one another, both sources are generally thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and statistics.

3. The ratio reported for 1997 in the CDC's preliminary report was 305 abortions for every 1,000 live births; it is likely this was revised upward once the CDC added 1,281 abortions to its 1997 total.