How many federally funded abortions in 2010

Other women have been forced to carry their pregnancies to term or to seek illegal abortions. Studies have shown that from 18 to 35 percent of Medicaid-eligible women who want abortions, but who live in states that do not provide funding for abortion, have been forced to carry their pregnancies to term.

Because the costs associated with childbirth, neonatal and pediatric care greatly exceed the costs of abortion, public funding for abortion neither costs the taxpayer money nor drains resources from other services. Our tax dollars fund many programs that individual people oppose. For example, those who oppose war on moral or religious grounds pay taxes that are applied to military programs. The congressional bans on abortion funding impose a particular religious or moral viewpoint on those women who rely on government-funded health care.

Providing funding for abortion does not encourage or compel women to have abortions, but denying funding compels many women to carry their pregnancies to term. Nondiscriminatory funding would simply place the profoundly personal decision about how to treat a pregnancy back where it belongs -- in the hands of the woman who must live with the consequences of that decision. These women are eligible, however, to receive all other pregnancy-related services.

See Hope v. Perales , N. See Alaska v. Planned Parenthood , 28 P. Health Care Cost Containment Sys. Rights v. Myers , P. Maher , A. Wright , No. Clinic for Women, Inc. Sec'y of Admin. Thus, national legal induced abortion case-fatality rates were calculated with denominator data from a more complete source on the total number of abortions performed in the United States Among the 49 reporting areas that provided data for , a total of , abortions were reported.

For the total number and rate, but not the ratio of reported abortions, the annual rate of decrease fitted from the regression analysis was greater during — than during — During —, the number of reported abortions decreased by 19, abortions per year, the abortion rate decreased by 0. In contrast, during —, the number of reported abortions decreased by only 5, abortions per year, and the abortion rate decreased by only 0. Abortion numbers, rates, and ratios have been calculated by individual state or reporting area of occurrence and the residence of the women who obtained the abortions Table 2.

However, these measures must be viewed with caution because states vary in the level of detail they collect on maternal residence and as a result, Among the 46 areas that reported by maternal age for , women in their 20s accounted for the majority Among the 43 reporting areas that provided data every year during —, this pattern across age groups was stable, with the majority of abortions and the highest abortion rates occurring among women aged 20—29 years and the lowest percentages of abortions and abortion rates occurring among women in the youngest and oldest age groups Table 4.

However, from to the abortion rate and percentage of abortions accounted for by younger women decreased, whereas the abortion rate and percentage of abortions accounted for by older women increased. Among women aged 30—39 years, abortion rates varied more from year to year, resulting in smaller overall changes.

However for women aged 20—24 years, abortion ratios decreased from to but then increased from to Table 4. Among the 45 areas that reported age by individual year among adolescents for , adolescents aged 18—19 years accounted for the majority Among the 41 reporting areas that provided data for adolescents by individual year of age every year during —, this pattern across age groups was stable, with older adolescents consistently accounting for the largest percentage of adolescent abortions and having the highest abortion rates Table 6.

In , adolescent abortion ratios decreased with increasing age and were lowest among adolescents aged 19 years Table 5. Among the 37 areas that reported gestational age at the time of abortion for Table 7 , the majority Among the 38 areas that reported by method type for and included medical abortion on their reporting form for medical providers, All other methods consistently accounted for a small percentage of abortions 0.

Non-Hispanic white women had the lowest abortion rates 8. Data also are reported separately by race and by ethnicity for Tables 13 and 15 and for — Tables 14 and Among the 38 areas that reported by marital status for , The abortion ratio was 52 abortions per 1, live births for married women, and abortions per 1, live births for unmarried women.

Data from the 39 areas that reported the number of previous live births for women who obtained abortions in show that Among the areas included in this comparison, Data from the 38 areas that reported the number of previous abortions for women obtaining abortions in indicate that the majority of women However, by age, Conversely, Among abortions categorized by method type and gestational age, curettage accounted for the largest percentage of abortions within every gestational age category Table At 9—17 weeks' gestation, curettage accounted for These deaths were identified either by some indication of abortion on the death certificate, by reports from a health-care provider or public health agency, or from a media report.

Investigation of these cases indicated that all eight deaths were related to legal abortion and none to illegal abortion.

The annual number of deaths related to legal induced abortions has fluctuated from year to year over the past 37 years Table For example, 12 abortion-related deaths occurred in , four deaths in , and nine deaths in Because of this variability and the relatively small number of abortion-related deaths every year, national case-fatality rates were calculated for consecutive 5-year periods during — and a 7-year period during — The national legal induced abortion case-fatality rate for — was 0.

This case fatality rate was similar to the rate for the preceding 5-year period — but lower than the case-fatality rate of 2. Possible abortion-related deaths that occurred during — are under investigation. For , a total of , abortions were reported. These 46 areas had an abortion rate of In contrast to the total number and rate of reported abortions, the ratio of reported abortions to live births was stable changing only 0.

In addition to highlighting changes that occurred among all women of reproductive age, this report underscores important age differences in abortion trends. Together with the continuing small proportion of abortions performed later in gestation among women in this age group, which potentially might be completed for maternal medical indications or fetal anomalies, these patterns suggest that unintended pregnancy is a problem that women encounter throughout their reproductive years.

The adolescent abortion trends described in this report are important for monitoring progress that has been made toward reducing pregnancies among adolescents in the United States. Although this decrease was associated with significant decreases in rates of live births and abortions, decreases during this period were even greater for abortions than live births 5. The findings in this report on race and ethnicity reflect differences in patterns of obtaining abortions that have been well-documented and observed for many years 2 — Comparatively high abortion rates and ratios among non-Hispanic black women can be attributed to higher unintended pregnancy rates and a higher percentage of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion 41, Data from some recent reports suggest that differences in measures of abortion between non-Hispanic black women and women of other races have narrowed 10, However, this pattern has not been observed in the data reported to CDC for or in previous years.

High abortion rates among Hispanic compared with non-Hispanic white women have been attributed to high pregnancy rates among Hispanic women 41, However, abortion ratios in these two groups have been more comparable: Hispanic women have tended to have a slightly higher percentage of pregnancies that are unintended but are no more likely than non-Hispanic white women to end unintended pregnancies in abortion Differences between non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women in abortion rates changed little from to , although the difference in abortion ratios widened, with a decrease for non-Hispanic white women and an increase for Hispanic women.

The findings in this report indicate that more women are obtaining abortions earlier in gestation, when the risks for complications are lowest 43 — However, the shift toward earlier gestational ages was greater from to than from to , suggesting that this trend might have slowed in recent years. We estimate subregional, regional, and global levels and trends in abortion incidence for to , and abortion rates in subgroups of women.

We use the results to estimate the proportion of pregnancies that end in abortion and examine whether abortion rates vary in countries grouped by the legal status of abortion. Methods: We requested abortion data from government agencies and compiled data from international sources and nationally representative studies.

This requirement eliminates immediate postpartum sterilization as an option if the paperwork is not completed in advance and available at the time of delivery. This regulation, created to protect women from coerced sterilization, also can pose a barrier to a desired sterilization. Women with commercial or private insurance who desire sterilization are not mandated to follow the same consent rules. Revision of the federal consent mandate in order to create fair and equitable access to sterilization services for women enrolled in Medicaid or covered by other government insurance would improve access.

These revisions can be balanced by educating patients and obtaining informed consent to address concerns of coercion Highly effective LARC methods are underutilized, and promoting affordable access to LARC methods for current low-use populations, including adolescents and nulliparous women, may help reduce unintended pregnancy In addition to the high up-front costs associated with these methods, another common barrier is inadequate reimbursement for LARC devices in certain settings.

Providing effective contraception postpartum and postabortion can be ideal because the patient is often highly motivated to avoid pregnancy, is within the health care system, and is not pregnant.

Appropriate reimbursement for LARC methods immediately postpartum or postabortion can be difficult to obtain. Rates of adverse reproductive health outcomes are higher among low-income and minority women. Unintended pregnancy rates are highest among those least able to afford contraception and have increased substantially over the past decade 5. The unintended pregnancy rate for poor women is more than five times the rate for women in the highest income bracket 5.

Low-income minority women have higher rates of nonuse of contraceptives and are more likely to use less effective reversible methods such as condoms Additionally, low-income women face health system barriers to contraceptive access because they are more likely to be uninsured, a major risk factor for nonuse of prescription contraceptives Publicly funded programs that support family planning services, including Title X and Medicaid, are increasingly underfunded and cannot bridge the gap in access for vulnerable women.

To address these barriers, the ACA has encouraged states to expand Medicaid eligibility for family planning services to greater numbers of low-income women. Also, in states that choose to expand Medicaid under the ACA, fewer poor women will lose Medicaid eligibility postpartum. All rights reserved. Access to contraception.

Committee Opinion No. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol ;—5. Bulk pricing was not found for item. Please try reloading page. For additional quantities, please contact sales acog. Patient Education Materials For Patients. Featured Clinical Topics. Jump to Jump to Close. Search Page. Resources Close. Number Reaffirmed Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women This information should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of treatment or procedure to be followed.

Background The benefits of contraception, named as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are widely recognized and include improved health and well-being, reduced global maternal mortality, health benefits of pregnancy spacing for maternal and child health, female engagement in the work force, and economic self-sufficiency for women 1.

Knowledge Deficits Lack of knowledge, misperceptions, and exaggerated concerns about the safety of contraceptive methods are major barriers to contraceptive use. Restrictive Legal and Legislative Climate Unfavorable legal rulings and restrictive legislative measures can impede access to contraceptives for minors and adults and interfere with the patient—physician relationship by impeding contraceptive counseling, coverage, and provision.