U.S. abortion rate at lowest level since ‘74.

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Abortion, you may believe it is a woman’s choice or you may believe it is not. One thing that we all should be able to agree on is that the less abortions the better. While abortions are still legal, sadly, a new report is showing that the abortion rate has been on a steady decline and reached it’s lowest rate since ‘74. While no abortions is a better idea I am glad to see that it is becoming a less popular choice. With other stats showing that abortions are preformed mostly for non-medical reasons, I am glad women are deciding to keep their “unwanted” children.

Thu, Jan 17, 2008 (Reuters Health) - The U.S. abortion rate continued its long-term decline in 2005, falling to its lowest level since 1974, according to the latest census of all known abortion providers in the U.S. conducted by the Guttmacher Institute in New York.

In 2005, the U.S. abortion rate fell to 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 years, continuing the downward trend that started after the U.S. abortion rate peaked in 1981 at 29.3 per 1,000 women.

The number of abortions also declined, to a total of 1.2 million in 2005. This is 8 percent fewer than in 2000 and 25 percent below the all-time high of 1.6 million abortions performed in 1990.

“Even though the abortion rate continues to go down, it is still the case that 1.21 million women a year are terminating pregnancies, so obviously there is a lot of work to be done to help women avoid unintended pregnancies,” Dr. Rachel K. Jones, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute, noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

The number of abortion providers in the U.S. has also continued to decline although at a slower pace than that seen in previous surveys, Jones said. There were 1,787 abortion providers in 2005, only 2 percent fewer than in 2000.

The researchers think this is partly due to an increase in the number of providers offering “medication only” abortion services with the abortion drug RU-486 (also known as mifepristone), which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2000.

A “key finding” from this survey is that “mifepristone matters,” Jones said. “Mifepristone is having an impact on abortion services although we aren’t sure at this point whether it is increasing access to abortions.”

The latest census shows that 57 percent of all known abortion providers in the U.S. now offer early termination of pregnancy with RU-486, up from 33 percent in early 2001. Medication abortion accounted for 13 percent, or 161,000, of all abortions performed in 2005, and 22 percent of all abortions eligible for RU-486 - that is, those performed up to nine weeks’ of pregnancy.

A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at abortion in 2004 found that there has been a “gradual but notable increase in very early abortions and we think in part that can be attributed to the availability of mifepristone,” Jones noted.

“We knew that (mifepristone use) had increased and had become better integrated into abortion services; this survey just gave us an actual figure to work with,” Jones said.

Mifepristone, she added, “provides women who are terminating their pregnancies with more options; in many cases they now have an option as to whether they want surgical abortion or medication abortion.”

While some may find abortion acceptable it has become clear that the life of a child is worth saving. Stats show that practically no abortions are performed because of the woman’s health. This leaves you to realize that most woman are extinguishing a life because “they can’t afford it” or because “they’re too old.” Such selfish reasons are sad truths but the decline of abortions in any sense is surely a good thing.

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Tags: Abortion