Reproduction - The Story Of Abortion In The Late 20th Century

Until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Roe v. Wade¹⁰ case in 1973 laws regulating abortion varied widely from state to state. In some, abortion was illegal under any circumstances. In others, 14 states in all by 1972, a legal abortion could be performed if the woman and her doctor felt that it was necessary. There are, however, no reliable figures on the number of abortions performed, either legally or illegally, prior to 1975. Figures presented for 1972 through 1974 are Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates of the number of legal abortions performed annually.

The graph presents the number of babies born and the number of abortions performed each year in the United States between 1972 and 1997. The rates of birth and abortion are also charted and appear as lines. These rates are the rate of births or abortions per 1,000 women in the childbearing age cohort, 15 to 44 years. In order to assess trends it is important to use rates instead of counts so that variations in the population are eliminated.

The abortion rate rose sharply from the early 1970s through 1980 and 1981 when it reached a peak of 29.3 abortions for every 1,000 women of childbearing age. The legalization of abortion in 1973 was clearly a watershed event that came on the heels of the sexual revolution and ushering in an era of change. The rise in abortion was steady through 1980 and 1981. From that point on the abortion rate has fallen annually with one small up tick in 1990, a year that saw a similar up tick in the birth rate.

Clearly, despite the availability of reliable birth control methods, a great number of couples fail to prevent unwanted pregnancies. In 1997, most women who underwent an abortion:

Were under the age of 25:	52%
Were unmarried:	81%
Had never borne a child:	42%
Had never undergone a previous abortion:	51%
Underwent the procedure at less than 11 weeks gestation:	77%

Future trends in the abortion rate are difficult to predict. The most likely predictor is related to the age demographics of women since most abortions are performed on young women. The chart to the right presents a breakdown of women by age group. Each age group is shown as a percentage of the overall female population of child- bearing age, 15 to 44 years. When the abortion rate was highest (1980), the youngest women made up the greatest percentage of fertile women. As the youngest age group declined as a percentage of all fertile women, the abortion rate fell. In the near future young women will again become the largest group of women in the childbearing age cohort. This suggests that the abortion rate may rise in the early 21st century, assuming there are no changes in the social, cultural, and/or legal attitudes towards abortion during the intervening time period. This is, of course, an assumption that assumes much.

Women by Age Group

Source: The data used in the graphs are from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1980, pp. 69-70. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2001, p. 71. The data are originally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The abortion data for 1972 through 1974 are CDC estimates.