Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2018 / 09:44 am
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that abortion rates in 2015 reached their lowest level in 10 years, although limitations in data collection make it difficult to assess actual abortion numbers in the U.S.
The CDC has monitored the number of women who seek a legal abortion since 1969, and relies on voluntary reporting of abortion statistics from the areas being studied. The CDC's analysis covered the years 2006-2015.
The analysis found a range of abortion rates in 2015 across different areas of the U.S. - from 2.8 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years in South Dakota, to 23.1 abortions per 1,000 women in New York.
A total of 638,169 abortions for 2015 were reported to CDC, leading to a ratio of 188 abortions per 1,000 live births. This is compared to over 1.4 million abortions in 1990.