Quick Facts

Abortion
Source: The Guttmacher Institute

Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States. In part, that is a result of the high number of unintended pregnancies. At current rates, nearly one-third of American women will have had an abortion.

• Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.
• Each year, two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; half have had at least one previous abortion.
• Eighty-eight percent of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

There are many myths and misconceptions about who gets abortions, and why. Women who have abortions come from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds.

Who Has Abortions?

Age
• Eighteen percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are teenagers; those aged 15-17 obtain 6% of all abortions, teens aged 18-19 obtain 11%, and teens under age 15 obtain 0.4%.
• Women in their twenties account for more than half of all abortions; women aged 20–24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and women aged 25-29 obtain 24%

Race, Ethnicity and Religion
• Thirty percent of abortions occur to African-American women, 36% to non-Hispanic white women, 25% to Hispanic women and 9% to women of other races.
• Women who obtain abortions represent every religious affiliation. Catholic women are about as likely as all women to have an abortion.While 22% of U.S. women are Catholic, 27% of abortion patients say they are Catholics. Thirty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant.

Socioeconomic Backgrounds
• Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children).
• Twenty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100-199% of the federal poverty level.

Marital Status and Family
• Women who have never married and are not cohabiting account for 45% of all abortions.
• About 61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.

The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

Contraceptive Use

• Low income and uninsured women need affordable contraception. A woman with low income is four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy, five times as likely to have an unintended birth, and four times as likely to have an abortion than a woman with higher income (and the resources to pay for or access contraception.)
• Fifty-four percent of women who have abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant.
• Forty-six percent of women who have abortions had not used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant.
• Eight percent of women who have abortions have never used a method of birth control; nonuse is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated.
• About half of unintended pregnancies occur among the 11% of women who are not using contraceptives. Most of these women have used contraception in the past.

MYTHS ABOUT ABORTION (Source: National Abortion Federation)

Women are using abortion as a method of birth control.
In fact, half of all women getting abortions report that contraception was used during the month they became pregnant. Some of these couples had used the method improperly; some had forgotten or neglected to use it on the particular occasion they conceived; and some had used a contraceptive that failed. No contraceptive method prevents pregnancy 100% of the time.

Women have abortions for selfish or frivolous reasons.
The decision to have an abortion is rarely simple. Most women base their decision on several factors, the most common being lack of money and/or unreadiness to start or expand their families due to existing responsibilities. Many feel that the most responsible course of action is to wait until their situation is more suited to childrearing; 66% plan to have children when they are older, financially able to provide necessities for them, and/or in a supportive relationship with a partner so their children will have two parents. Others wanted to get pregnant but developed serious medical problems, learned that the fetus had severe abnormalities, or experienced some other personal crisis.

About 13,000 women each year have abortions because they have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

Sexuality Education
Americans overwhelmingly favor responsible sexuality education that includes accurate information about abstinence and contraception. The following data about religious support for comprehensive sexuality education is from RCRC's national survey on religion and choice:. Percentages are those who support comprehensive sexuality education:

• 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.

• 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)

June 2011