Abortion is Decreasing in Popularity
The Guttmacher Institute has published findings from a study that discovered that the U.S. abortion rate is at its lowest level since 1974. In fact, the 1.2 million abortions of 2005 were 25% fewer than the all-time high of 1.6 million abortions in 1990. Unfortunately, despite the decrease, roughly 1 in 5 pregnancies still ended in abortion in 2005.
Why the decrease?
- Fewer Clinics Available
The proportion of counties without an abortion provider increased from 77% in 1978 to 87% in 2000. - Unaccounted for Medication Abortions
In September 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone for use for early medication abortion. As knowledge about and comfort with mifepristone has increased, it likely has been introduced into settings where surgical abortions were previously not provided (e.g., family planning clinics and the practices of family doctors), possibly increasing access to abortion and reversing the trend of services’ being concentrated in clinics and larger providers. - Laws
Between 2000 and 2004, five states enacted laws that impose burdens on abortion providers. - Better Birth Control Usage
Numbers and rates of adolescent pregnancies continued to decline between 1995 and 2002, largely because of improved contraceptive use among adolescents, and fewer adolescents have needed to access abortion services.
The full report goes into extensive details about abortion usage, including geographic distribution.
[via The Washington Post & The Dallas Morning News]
Caleb Zahnd Said,
January 25, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
It’s also interesting to note how the general tenor in Hollywood has begun to change. Recent movies such as “Juno”, “Waitress”, and “Knocked Up” all have dealt with unplanned (and mostly, unwanted) pregnancies, and all three protagonists make a conscious decide against abortion. These movies have an obvious pro-life slant, and while this may or may not be intentional, it does seem to signal a change in the general mood of Hollywood towards abortion. I seem to remember reading an article on this subject a couple weeks ago in ‘The Week’ magazine. I may need to blog more on this later.