New CDC Report Shows Small Decline In Number Of Abortions


Atlanta, GA — The number of abortions performed dipped in the most recent year surveyed, U.S. health officials reported on Thursday.

In the annual abortion survey, the agency said that the number of legally induced abortions reported in the United States fell 2 percent in 1998, the latest year studied. The reduction was likely due in part to a drop in unintended pregnancies and changes in birth control methods the agency claimed.

The survey was based on voluntary reports from health departments in 46 states, New York City and Washington, D.C. It did not include Alaska, California, New Hampshire and Oklahoma because of problems compiling reliable data in those states.

Because of this and because of voluntary rather than mandatory reporting requirements, CDC abortion numbers have always been considered at least three to five percent or more below the actual number of abortions performed annually. Indeed, figured from the pro-abortion Alan Guttmahcer Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, show annual abortion numbers a few percentage poinbts higher than those reported by the CDC.

Joy Herndon, a statistician with the agency's division of reproductive health, claimed fewer unintended pregnancies, growing use of condoms and changes in access to abortions were some of the factors that likely led to the decrease in abortions.

On the other hand, pro-life advocates say the increase in the effectiveness and number of crisis pregnancy centers, continued education, and an increase in the number of pro-life laws such as parental notification and informed consent have led to the decrease in abortion numbers each of the last few years.

In 1998, the CDC reported 884,273 abortions in the areas reporting data, compared with 900,171 in 1997. But the abortion rate remained steady from 1997 to 1998 at 17 per 100,000 women aged 15 to 44, according to the CDC.

“It's basically the same as we've experienced in the past few years, that the number of abortions is going down,” Herndon said.

The number of reported abortions in the United States soared in the 1970s and 1980s after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling made abortion legal nationwide.

The CDC survey on abortion included non-surgical abortion methods, such as those due to the dangeorus abortion drug mifepristone, or RU-486. It showed that women who had legal abortions were more likely to be 25 years or younger, white and unmarried. One-fifth were 19 or younger.

As in previous years, more than half of the abortions in the nation occurred in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, with 88 percent taking place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

See Reuters for more news coverage.

(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)

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