Abortion patterns in the United States remain broad; women from their teens through 40s seek abortion, and they represent a spectrum of ethnic, educational, religious and economic groups. The rate of abortion among poor women, however, has risen in the last decade, according to a report Tuesday from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights organization.
The overall proportion of women who were poor increased by 25% in the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report. The proportion of abortion patients who were poor increased from 27% in 2000 to 42% in 2008.
Tuesday's story in the L.A. Times on the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill notes that 49% of U.S. pregnancies are unintended, and 22% end in abortion. Increasingly, the role of poverty is becoming more apparent in the incidence of both unintended pregnancy and abortion.
The report also notes:
- 58% of abortions were among women in their 20s
- 85% of abortion were among unmarried women
- 61% of women having abortions already had at least one child
- 33% of women having abortions lacked health insurance
-- Shari Roan