
SURPRISING
STATISTICS ON ABORTION
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Excluding
miscarriages, 49% of the pregnancies concluding in 1994 were unintended;
54% of these ended in abortion.
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Forty-eight
percent of women aged 15-44 in 1994 had had at least one unplanned
pregnancy sometime in their lives; 28% had had one or more unplanned
births, 30% had had one or more abortions and 11% had had both.
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At
1994 rates, women can expect to have 1.42 unintended pregnancies
by the time they are 45, and at 1992 rates, 43% of women
will have had an abortion.
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Between
1987 and 1994, the unintended pregnancy rate declined by 16%, from
54 to 45 per 1,000 women of reproductive age.
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The
proportion of unplanned pregnancies that ended in abortion increased
among women aged 20 and older, but decreased among teenagers, who
are now more likely than older women to continue their unplanned
pregnancies.
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The
unintended pregnancy rate was highest among women who were aged
18-24, unmarried, low-income, black or Hispanic.
Source: Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):24-29 & 46
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