<< l.i.f.e.letter
Most abortions performed
during first 60 days--
quarter of all pregnancies
ended by abortion
(See additional abortion rate charts. )
A quarter of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion and most are performed during the first two months, specifically, the first 8 weeks or 56 days.
In 2004, about 850,000 abortions were performed, representing approximately 240 abortions per 1,000 live births. About 60 percent of these abortions were done the first 8 weeks of gestation.
Specifically, according to the CDC/National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion/Division of Reproductive Health, in its Abortion Surveillance report for 2004:
A total of 839,226 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC for 2004 from 49 reporting areas, representing a 1.1% decline from the 848,163 legal induced abortions reported by 49 reporting areas for 2003. The abortion ratio, defined as the number of abortions per 1,000 live births, was 238 in 2004, a decrease from the 241 in 2003. The abortion rate was 16 per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years for 2004, the same since 2000. For the same 47 reporting areas, the abortion rate remained relatively constant during 1998--2004. In 2003 (the most recent years for which data are available), 10 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion.
The report goes on to say that:
The highest percentages of reported abortions were for women who were known to be unmarried (80%), white (53%), and aged <25 years (50%). Of all abortions for which gestational age was reported, 61% were performed at <8 weeks' gestation and 88% at <13 weeks.
Rates for 2006 were similar:
For 2006, a total of 846,181 abortions were reported to CDC. Among the 46 areas that provided data consistently during 1996--2006, a total of 835,134 abortions (98.7% of the total) were reported; the abortion rate was 16.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, and the abortion ratio was 236 abortions per 1,000 live births. During the previous decade (1997--2006), reported abortion numbers, rates, and ratios decreased 5.7%, 8.8%, and 14.8%, respectively; most of these declines occurred before 2001. During the previous year (2005--2006), the total number of abortions increased 3.1%, and the abortion rate increased 3.2%; the abortion ratio was stable.For complete Abortion Surveillance reports by the CDC, see the following links: