Who Has Abortions?

WHO HAS ABORTIONS?

Fifty-two percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 33 percent of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 19 percent.

Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2 1/2 times as likely.

Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 percent identify themselves as Catholic.

Two-thirds of all abortions are among never-married women.

Over 60 percent of abortions are among women who have had 1 or more children.

On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

Interestingly, I uncovered the statistic that in 1860, there were 160,000 abortions. This number represents more deaths than in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. It is also proportionally higher than the number of abortions today. I find it fascinating to hear some say today, "We are looking forward to making abortions safe, rare and legal."

(From a sermon by Terry Blankenship, "The Silence Which Kills" 1/16/2009)