Abortion figures, facilities decline in '90s, study shows

by Tom Strode                                                                                            Vol. XII, No. 2, February 1999

The number of abortions in the country fell 11 percent from 1992 to 1996, and the number of abortion facilities has decreased by nearly one-third from its highest point in the early 1980s, according to research by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI). The 1.37 million abortions for 1996 were a slight increase from the 1.36 million of 1995 but a large decline from the 1.61 million reported in 1990. The 1990 total was the highest since abortion was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, according to AGI.

The 1995-96 figures were the lowest since 1977, when there were about 1.32 million abortions, AGI reported. The abortion rate, which is the number of abortions per 1,000 women age 15 to 44, and the abortion ratio, which is the percentage of pregnancies that end in abortion, also were lower than they have been in two decades, according to AGI. The abortion rate in 1996 was 22.9 and the ratio 26.1 percent. The highest annual figures, according to AGI, were a rate of 29.3 in both 1980 and '81 and a ratio of 30.4 in 1983.

The survey also showed a 14 percent decrease since 1992 in the number of facilities performing abortions. From 1988 to '92 there was only an 8 percent decline in such facilities. The peak year for abortion-providing facilities was 1982, when there were 2,908. In 1996, that total had fallen to 2,042. The largest decline in providers has been among hospitals and physicians' offices rather than abortion clinics, AGI reported. Such clinics perform 91 percent of abortions, however, according to AGI.

Polls earlier this year showed a decline in the public's support for abortion rights. In January, a Gallup poll showed 23 percent of Americans support legal abortion in all circumstances, an 8 percent drop from September 1995. From 1975 to 1995, Gallup surveys showed an increase in support for abortion in all circumstances. A New York Times/CBS News poll also conducted in January revealed a decline in support for abortion under certain circumstances. The survey showed only 25 percent of respondents said a woman should be able to have an abortion if her pregnancy would interrupt her career. In a Times/CBS poll in 1989, 37 percent said yes to such a scenario.

[Editorial comment: This reduction is good news, but as we rejoice that some 240,000 fewer babies were killed in 1996 than in 1990, we must continue to pray and work for the rescue of the 1,370,000 who were and continue to be slaughtered, and for the babies’ mothers, fathers, and family members who tragically choose to have them killed. TCP]