Daily Mail – Abortion rates continue to fall in the US, decreasing by nearly a quarter in less than a decade, new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data reveal. In 2016, a total of 623,471 abortions were performed in the US, declining two percent from the previous year. The report authors dubbed the number, rate, and ratio of abortions to live births ‘historic lows. ‘Most experts argue that the declining abortion rates come too soon to reflect changes affected by abortion restrictions and bans enacted in conservative states. Instead, the CDC scientists say the shift likely indicated that efforts to reduce
unintended pregnancies – by encouraging the use of long-acting contraception, like IUDs – are working and driving the decrease in teen pregnancies reported by the CDC earlier today. After abortion was federally legalized by the historic Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, abortion rates rose steadily to reach a peak of nearly 30 per 1,000 women between 1980 and 1981, according to prior Guttmacher Institute research. Since then, abortions have trended downward, hitting record lows year after year since 2007. Abortions are most prevalent among women in their 20s, according to the new figures. READ MORE
