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Abortion Surveillance - United States, 2018
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries (Washington, D.C. : 2002)
|November 25, 2020
Summary
Legal induced abortions in the US saw a 1-2% increase from 2017 to 2018, following a decade of decline. This trend highlights the need for increased access to contraception to reduce unintended pregnancies.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Public Health Surveillance
- Demography
Background:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts abortion surveillance to monitor legal induced abortions and related deaths in the United States.
- Data collection involves annual requests to health agencies across states, with 49 reporting areas providing aggregate data for 2018.
Purpose of the Study:
- To document the number and characteristics of women obtaining legal induced abortions in the U.S.
- To track abortion rates and ratios, and identify demographic trends.
- To assess abortion-related deaths through the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS).
Main Methods:
- Aggregate abortion data were collected from 49 reporting areas for 2018, with 48 providing continuous data from 2009-2018.
- Abortion rates (per 1,000 women aged 15-44) and ratios (per 1,000 live births) were calculated using Census and natality data.
- Abortion-related deaths were assessed using data from the PMSS.
Main Results:
- In 2018, 619,591 abortions were reported. The abortion rate was 11.3 per 1,000 women, and the ratio was 189 per 1,000 live births.
- From 2009 to 2018, total abortions, rates, and ratios decreased by 22%, 24%, and 16% respectively, reaching historic lows by 2017.
- From 2017 to 2018, a 1-2% increase was observed in total abortions, rates, and ratios. Women in their 20s accounted for over half of abortions in 2018.
- Most abortions (77.7%) occurred at ≤9 weeks' gestation, with surgical procedures at ≤13 weeks being the most common method (52.1%).
- In 2017, two abortion-related deaths were identified.
Conclusions:
- While long-term trends showed decreases, a recent uptick in abortion numbers, rates, and ratios from 2017 to 2018 warrants attention.
- Demographic data indicate that women in their 20s represent the largest group obtaining abortions.
- Increasing access to and use of effective contraception is crucial for reducing unintended pregnancies and, consequently, the number of induced abortions.
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