New Information on 1997 U.S. Abortions

Abortions Down, Especially among Teens

By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D., NRL Director of Education & Research

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.

The percentage drop in the abortion rate was slightly higher for the younger members of that age group. The rate for teens 15-17 years old dropped from 26.5 to 17.4 - - a decline of 34.3%.

There was another very interesting trend. While at one time the abortion rate for teens was second only to women in the 20-24 age group, in 1997 the abortion rate for teens 15-19 was lower than the rates recorded for women in both the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups.

What else does the report tell us? NCHS indicates that from 1990 to 1997, there was a decline in the rates for abortions (19%), for births (8%), and fetal losses--miscarriages and stillbirths--(4%). What does the fact that the decline in abortions was greater than the other two tell us?

Not only that there were fewer women becoming pregnant, but also that there was a reduced likelihood of a pregnant woman choosing abortion. In other words, in just seven years time, there was a significantly larger proportion of pregnant women choosing life for their babies. The pro-life message is getting through and making a difference.

Not surprisingly, NCHS statistics tell us that in 1997 (as it has long been the case) unmarried women were much more likely to abort their babies than were married women. Just 7% of married women aborted their babies in 1997, compared to 41% of unmarried women.

While abortion rates fell across all age groups and racial categories, unfortunately there were some increases in certain age/race combinations. Between 1990 and 1997, abortion rates were up for black women ages 25-29 and 30-34, and for Hispanic women ages 20-24 and 25-29 and girls under the age of 15.

The highest abortion rate, a staggering 125.8 abortions per 1,000 women, was recorded for black women ages 20-24. Yet even this represented a lower rate than those recorded by this age/race group in both 1990-1994 and 1996.