A new report from the Guttmacher Institute finds teenage abortion rates are down to their lowest levels since 1988, a drop of 66 percent from that peak.
Guttmacher also reports that teen pregnancy and teen birth rates are down to historic lows.
“Rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion have declined dramatically in the United States since their peak in the early 1990s. In 2010, some 614,000 pregnancies occurred among teenage women aged 15–19, for a rate of 57.4 pregnancies per 1,000 women that age. This marks a 51% decline from the 1990 peak, and a 15% decline in just two years, from 67.8 in 2008,” Guttmacher reported today.
Guttmacher is a pro-abortion research organization formerly affiliated with the Planned Parenthood abortion business and obtains information directly from abortion clinics — therefore, its numbers are regarded as more accurate than the Centers for Disease Control’s figures because of those relationships.
The report continues, “Similarly, the teen birthrate declined 44% from the peak in 1991 (from 61.8 births per 1,000 to 34.4 per 1,000); and the teen abortion rate declined 66% between its 1988 peak and 2010 (from 43.5 abortions per 1,000 to 14.7 per 1,000).”
From 1986 to 2010, the proportion of teenage pregnancies ending in abortion (i.e., the abortion ratio) declined by one-third, from 46% to 30%.
According to the report, disparities exist in the teen abortion rates among ethnic groups, showing Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics continue targeting minorities: “The abortion rate among black teenagers (34.5) was more than three times the rate for non-Hispanic whites (8.5), while the rate among Hispanic teenagers (15.3) was almost twice that rate.”
States which have passed more pro-life laws show lower teen abortion rates compared with states with few pro-life laws in place, which have the highest teen abortion rates. Teenage abortion rates in 2010 were highest in New York (32 abortions per 1,000 women), Delaware (28), New Jersey (24), Hawaii (23) and Maryland (22). The lowest rates were found in South Dakota (4) Utah (4), Kansas (5), Nebraska (5), Kentucky (6) and North Dakota (6).
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Likewise, more than half of teenage pregnancies (excluding miscarriages and stillbirths) ended in abortion in three states: New York (58%), New Jersey (55%) and Connecticut (52%). In ascending order, the states with the lowest proportions of teenage pregnancies ending in abortion (15% or less) were South Dakota, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Nebraska and Texas.
Between 2008 and 2010, abortion rates among teens decreased by two rate points or more in 36 states, and the six states that experienced declines of 5–6 rate points or more were Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. Abortion rates among teens increased in only two states—West Virginia and Alaska—with an increase of one and two rate points, respectively.
