Does this surprise you?

In the U.S. CDC reports that in 2002 there were more than 246 abortions per 1000 live births, for a total of over 854,000 abortions.  The actual numbers are higher because

1. no data was reported by Alaska, California, New Hampshire or Wyoming
2. data is voluntarily reported by health agencies and may not include private practitioners.

  See the full set of data at CDC ( http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5407.pdf).

The Guttmacher Institute (an affilate of Planned Parenthood) reports from all states.  According to them, the total was 1.29 million.  That is 3,524/day.

See http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html.

Comments

[Bonnie]

The surprising thing to me is that (according to the Guttmacher site) nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended. If we could address this issue, then the number of abortions would presumably drop to practically nothing. Sadly, there are still health insurance plans that don't cover birth control pills -- aside from the fact that there is only one 100% foolproof method of preventing pregnancy, and many people find that method, shall we say, difficult to practice.

[Theresa]

I am not so surprised that nearly half of pregnancies are unintended. In fact, I would not be terribly surprised if some of the participants in this blog were the result of unintended pregnancies. I'm awfully glad that said pregnancies were permitted to come to term.

However, given that 2/3 of those obtaining abortions are never married individuals, perhaps birth control pills are not the preferred solution, especially when one looks at the statistics given for contraceptive use. I suspect more complex underlying issues require a multifaceted solution.