Lifestyle Abortion rates drop
By Sue Mueller
Sep 23, 2008 - 3:26:47 PM
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Tuesday Sep 23, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- An analysis
released Monday found that the overall abortion rate in the United States has
dropped 33 percent in the past 30 years.
The data showed white women were much less likely to
terminate their pregnancies than Hispanic and black women.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected
the abortion data between 1974 and 2004.
Rachel Jones, a senior research associate at the
Guttmacher Institute and colleagues found the abortion rate fell to the lowest,
20 abortions for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2004 from 29 abortions per
1,000 women in 1980 in the age range.
There was some disparity in the abortion rates among
different ethnic groups.
In 2004,
abortions were performed in 1.05 percent white women ages 15 to 44 compared to
2.8 percent among Hispanic women and 5 percent among black women.
For those who have already had a child, the abortion rate
increased from 4.6 percent in 1974 to 6.0 percent in 2004, suggesting that the
trend that women cannot afford having another child, Jones was cited by
Washington Post as saying.
Jones attributed the decline in the abortion rate to the
focus on reducing teenage pregnancy and increasing use of contraceptives.