Abortion

The technical definition of induced abortion is the removal of products of conception from the uterus of a pregnant woman. Throughout recorded history there is evidence that women have found the means to limit and space their childbearing through the use of induced abortion. Women of all identities and living in a wide variety of conditions all over the world continue to choose termination as one response to unintended pregnancies. In 1997, approximately 20 out of every 1,000 women in the United States aged fifteen to forty-four had induced abortions; this rate has remained stable since 1995. Another way to express the frequency of abortion is the number of induced abortions compared with the number of live births; in 1997 this ratio was 306 abortions per 1,000 live births. These statistics do not include abortions that happen spontaneously, usually called miscarriages.