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Abortion surveillance--United States, 1993 and 1994
L M Koonin1, J C Smith, M Ramick
1Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, USA.
Summary
Legal induced abortion numbers and rates in the U.S. continued to decline from 1991-1994. Abortion-related deaths remained rare, with approximately 0.8 deaths per 100,000 legal procedures.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Public Health Surveillance
- Demography
Background:
- Legal induced abortion numbers reported to the CDC declined annually by up to 5% from 1991-1994.
- Data collection on legal induced abortions has been compiled by the CDC since 1969 from 52 reporting areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize and review data on legal induced abortions in the U.S. for 1993 and 1994.
- To analyze abortion-related deaths occurring in 1991.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for legal induced abortions in 1993 and 1994.
- Inclusion of abortion-related mortality data from 1991.
Main Results:
- Legal abortions decreased by 2.1% in 1993 and 4.7% in 1994.
- The abortion ratio and rate per 1,000 women aged 15-44 declined.
- Most abortions were performed early in gestation (< or =8 weeks), with younger women more likely to have later abortions.
- The case-fatality rate for legal induced abortion in 1991 was 0.8 per 100,000 procedures.
Conclusions:
- Both the number of abortions and the abortion-to-live-birth ratio have declined since 1990 and 1987, respectively.
- Legal induced abortion deaths remain infrequent.
- Continued monitoring of abortion trends and characteristics is essential for public health initiatives.