Abortion statistics and other data

Abortion statistics and other data

by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 18 November 2008

Contents

Data reviews:

Abortion data summaries and maps
Additional abortion analyses
Comments on abortion statistics
Information on sources

Historical abortion statistics by country

Regional historical data for some countries:

United States: by state
United States: by county
Australia
Belarus
Canada
P.R. China
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
India

Italy
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Lithuania
Mongolia
Netherlands
Norway
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

Abortion data summaries and maps

	data:	maps:
Global:	Percent of pregnancies aborted by country (listed by %) Percent of pregnancies aborted by country (listed by country) Total known abortions worldwide (through 2008)	World: percent of pregnancies aborted
Europe:		Europe: percent of pregnancies aborted Countries of former Yugoslavia: percent of pregnancies aborted
United States:	Historical abortion statistics Live births and abortions, 1935-2002 (graph) Abortion rates, 1960-2005 (graph) Percent of pregnancies aborted (by state) Percentage of United States women who have had abortions	Percent of pregnancies aborted
Texas:	Historical abortion statistics Abortions and live births (by county) Reported characteristics of abortions	Percent of pregnancies aborted
Other:		Australia: percent of pregnancies aborted Canada: percent of pregnancies aborted

Additional abortion analyses

Comments on abortion statistics

Abortion statistics and other data is intended to improve the accessibility of abortion statistics. It is under continuing development. The reader should be aware that abortion statistics are often hard to obtain, and those statistics that are available are frequently inaccurate.

Official abortion statistics are often low due to incomplete reporting. In the United States, for example, not all states mandate such reporting. Even in those states that require or encourage reporting of abortion statistics, this reporting is incomplete (as demonstrated by higher numbers reported to abortion advocacy organizations). From 1988 to 1997, the total number of U.S. abortions reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was 11.3% lower than the total number reported to the Alan Guttmacher Institute (the research branch of Planned Parenthood). In 1998 four states discontinued state-level gathering of abortion statistics, contributing to the 25.4% drop in CDC figures from 1997 to 1998.

In contrast, other organizations that provide estimates of abortion statistics may be motivated to inflate the numbers. Currently, the Alan Guttmacher Institute is an important source for estimates of both legal and illegal abortions worldwide. AGI is an extension of an organization engaged in intense political lobbying for the completely unrestrained practice of abortion. High abortion rates are in their political (and financial) interests for a number of reasons. For example, high numbers of illegal abortions are an element of their rationalization for legalized abortion.

Thus, when AGI estimates high rates of illegal abortions in the developing world these estimates bear scrutiny. Many such estimates are based on limited surveys. Some such surveys are limited to urban areas, which are not representative of rural areas. Other studies use compound assumptions to develop a figure for illegal abortions from data on hospitalizations for miscarriages.

Few pro-life organizations conduct their own statistical research, but such groups that make estimates of abortion numbers may also be inclined to accept higher figures as worst-case scenarios.

The following pages also include figures on live births and miscarriages. In many developing nations reporting of live births is incomplete. In all countries data on miscarriages is incomplete and is also subject to varying definitions. Reported miscarriages generally include only those pregnancies of a certain minimum gestation, often 20 weeks.

The country listings below contain some or all of the following columns:

live births;
abortions--reported generally indicates those reported to government agencies; in some cases figures are available for residents only, for residents having abortions abroad, or for illegal abortions;
miscarriages--reporting tends to be incomplete and definitions tend to vary (I have used this term to include both stillbirths and spontaneous fetal deaths);
abortion ratio--number of abortions per 1,000 live births; and
abortion %--percentage of abortions among pregnancies ending in live birth or abortion (data on miscarriages is not considered here due to incompleteness).

Figures for Czechoslovakia, East Germany, the U.S.S.R., and the Panama Canal Zone end with the last year those countries/territories existed as intact/separate entities. Tables for Soviet successor states include data for the corresponding republics prior to independence; these figures are included in the corresponding U.S.S.R. totals. Data for the Federal Republic of Germany applies to reunited Germany from 1990 onward.

For U.S. states, abortion ratios and percentages are based on abortion figures from different sources with different completeness; the mixed figures are not reliable time series.

Information on sources

List of sources

The above list of sources includes references for all abortion statistics pages below. Most individual pages below include a listing of respective references (the above list includes sources for those pages with source lists under construction).

Review of sources and useful links

State agency sources of abortion statistics