Utah Abortions Went Up Slightly in 2007 New Health Department Figures Show
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 16, 2009
Salt Lake City, UT (LifeNews.com) — A new report from the Utah state health department finds the number of abortions rose slightly in 2007. With 3,516 abortions done that year, the most recent for which annual statistics have been compiled, that is an increase of 72 abortions from the 2006 figures.
Still, the numbers are significantly lower before the national trend of declining abortions that has taken place over the last 15-20 years.
The state report indicates most abortions were done on Utah residents, but more than 400 were done on women who live in Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada. Idaho and Wyoming led with 206 and 152 women, respectively, getting abortions in Utah.
Including the abortions on out of state women, there were 3,932 abortions done in Utah in 2007, an increase over the 3,753 abortions done in 2006.
Though the number of abortions has increased, the rise appears to be due to the increasing population of the state as the abortion rate, the number of abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, remained the same.
The abortion rate in Utah has consistently declined from highs during the 1990s, at about 9-10 abortions per 1,000 women, to 5.8 in 2006 and 2007.
The report breaks down the abortions by county of residence and most abortions were done on women from the Salt Lake City area, though the percentage has declined from previous years as more residents from other parts of the state head there for abortions.
Most women getting abortions in Utah were unmarried and between the ages of 20 and 29.
Abortions were typically done between 5 and 10 weeks of pregnancy and just under 200 were done at 15 weeks of pregnancy or later. About 170 were done on teenagers under the age of 18 and most of the women getting abortions were white.
More than half of the women getting abortions in Utah in 2007 already had one or more children and about 1,250 had already had at least one abortion. About 350 women had already had two or more abortions at the time of their 2007 abortions — or about 10 percent of the women getting abortions that year.
The statistics indicate 1,141 women used the dangerous mifepristone abortion drug that has killed more than a dozen women worldwide and injured more than 1,300 in the United States alone, according to FDA figures.
Although abortion advocates claim the use of contraception reduces the number of abortions, the information finds 1,130 women said they had been using contraception at the time of their abortion. Most of the women had been using either the pill or condoms as their method of contraception.
More women were likely using contraception at the time of their abortion since almost 900 were not surveyed about whether they used contraception at the time.
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