by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 12, 2005
Ottawa,
Canada (LifeNews.com) -- Abortions are on the decline slightly in
Canada new figures from Statistics Canada, released Friday, reveal.
Overall, the number of women obtaining abortions there dropped one percent
from 2001 to 2002, the latest years for which data is available.
In 2002, there were 105,154 abortions in Canada compared with a figure of 106,270 in 2001. The number of abortions in Canada peaked in 1997 at 112,000.
The abortion rate during that time period dropped from 15.6 abortions per 1,000 women in 2001 to 15.4 per 1,000 in 2002.
Looked at from another angle, the number of abortions per 100 live births was 32.1 in 2002, essentially unchanged from 2001.
Most of the abortions performed on Canadian women were done on women in their 20s, who had a much higher abortion rate of 26 per 1,000 women.
Though the abortion rate is dropping, there are some places in the North American country where abortions are staying at the same level or even showing a small increase.
The abortion rate dropped in several provinces but increased or stayed the same in the Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon Territories.
The rates are based on the number of abortions performed both on Canadian women in Canada as well as the United States.
Abortion in Canada were legalized in a 1998 Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
