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Quick Facts

Sexuality Education
Americans overwhelmingly favor responsible sexuality education that includes accurate information about abstinence and contraception, including:

76% of those who identify themselves as Protestants,
85% of those who specify they are Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, or United Church of Christ,
79% of Methodists,
57% of Baptists,
74% of Catholics,
62% of those who identify as born-again Christians, and
67% of those who identify as fundamentalist/evangelist Christians.

(Source: Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates, 2000, RCRC National Survey on Religion and Choice)

Protestant and Jewish clergy also support providing responsible sexuality education in religious schools and discussing sexuality and reproductive choice from the pulpit.

89% agreed that sexuality education should be part of the congregation’s educational program,
95% agreed that individuals can benefit from dialogue within the congregation about sexuality issues
85% agreed that it is appropriate to speak about sexuality in religious schools or youth groups,
98% agreed it is appropriate to speak about sexuality in adult education settings
75% considered lack of faith-based sexuality education a serious problem in their community,
76% would be interested in a program to stimulate congregational dialogue from a faith-based perspective on human sexuality.

(Source: RCRC National Clergy Survey, 1998)

Abortion & Contraception
Statistics
Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States. An estimated 43% of women in the U.S. will have at least one abortion by the time they are 45 years old. In part, that is a result of the high number of unintended pregnancies. Approximately 48% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; half of these are terminated by abortion. (Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute)

Who Has Abortions?
Each year, 2 out of every 100 women aged 15-44 have an abortion. Almost half (48%) of these women have had at least one previous abortion and 61% have had a previous birth.

Worldwide, an estimated 46 million abortions occur each year. Of these, 20 million procedures are obtained illegally.

52% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25. Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 20%.

African American women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.

Catholic women are about as likely as all women to have an abortion. Catholic women account for 27.4% of abortion patients and Protestant women have 42.8% of all abortions. Born-again Protestants have 13% of all abortions. ("Born-again" believers constitute about 30% of the American adult population, and are thus under-represented among women having abortions.)

10,000-15,000 women have abortions each year following rape or incest.

Most abortions (67.3%) are obtained by never-married women.

Contraceptive Use
58% of women having abortions in 1995 had used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant.

11% of women having abortions had never used a method of birth control; non-use is greatest among those who are young, unmarried, poor, African-American, Hispanic or poorly educated.

49% of the 6.3 million pregnancies that occur each year are unplanned; 47% of these occur among the 7% of women at risk of unintended pregnancy who do not practice contraception.

Overall, 64% of the more than 60 million women aged 15-44 practice contraception.

The pill is the method most widely used by women in their 20’s.

Of the 2.7 million teenage women who use contraceptives, 44%-more than 1 million women-rely on the pill.