Washington – Abortion rates in the United States have decreased over the past 20 years, creating a record for the lowest rate in the country. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), abortions fell 35 percent from 1990 to 2010, this is approximately 17.7 procedures per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 to 44.
Sally Curtin, a statistician for the CDC, stated that since the Center started tracking these procedures in 1976, this is the lowest abortion rate yet. The decline of abortions is mainly accredited to effective birth control.
Pregnancy rates across the United States for women below the age of 30 have fallen significantly. According to the CDC report, teenagers below the age of 14 have presented a 67 percent reduction, as well as a 50 percent reduction in teens aged 15 to 19.
However, these rates are inversely proportional with 30-year-old women. Couples are using contraception in such a way that they decide to start their families later.
“Across the states, the rate of unintended pregnancy is going down,” Curtin said. “That suggests that fewer women are getting pregnant when they don’t want to. It’s happening across the board, and affects the birth rate and the abortion rate.”
Eric Ferraro, vice president of communications for Planned Parenthood, said that although birth control is effective, there are surely ways to improve global access to these in order to reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy.
However, more pro-life organizations have their own theories regarding why the reduction of the rate, theories that not many approve of due to their lack of proper sociological investigation.
Randall O’Bannon, director of education and research for the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, confidently stated that the rates are diminishing due to a change of attitudes society has regarding the concept of abortion. Pro-life organizations provide alternatives to abortion, such as suggesting mothers to consider adoption, as well as providing and financial and school assistance if they decide to keep the baby.
The CDC also reported the rates of three possible results of pregnancy: live birth, abortion, or fetal loss through miscarriage or stillbirth.
Live birth and pregnancy reached a record low in 2010, with 98.7 pregnancies for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, a decline of 10 percent between the last two decades.
“This is the first time it dropped below 100,” Curtin said.
However, pregnancy and abortion are the most ground-breaking rates reported, as fetal loss rates remained constant. An estimate for these three rates can be averaged into 3 ciphers: for every 100 pregnancies, 65 are live birth, 18 are abortion and 17 are fetal loss.
Source: News Max