Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2014

Abstract

Problem/ConditionSince 1969, CDC has conducted abortion surveillance to document the number and characteristics of women obtaining legal induced abortions in the United States.Period Covered2014.Description of SystemEach year, CDC requests abortion data from the central health agencies of 52 reporting areas (the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City). The reporting areas provide this information voluntarily. For 2014, data were received from 49 reporting areas. For trend analysis, abortion data were evaluated from 48 areas that reported data every year during 2005–2014. Census and natality data, respectively, were used to calculate abortion rates (number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratios (number of abortions per 1,000 live births).ResultsA total of 652,639 abortions were reported to CDC for 2014. Of these abortions, 98.4% were from the 48 reporting areas that provided data every year during 2005–2014. Among these 48 reporting areas, the abortion rate for 2014 was 12.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, and the abortion ratio was 193 abortions per 1,000 live births. From 2013 to 2014, the total number and rate of reported abortions decreased 2%, and the ratio decreased 3%. From 2005 to 2014, the total number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 21%, 22%, and 18%, respectively. In 2014, all three measures reached their lowest level for the entire period of analysis (2005–2014).In 2014 and throughout the period of analysis, women in their 20s accounted for the majority of abortions and had the highest abortion rates; women in their 30s and older accounted for a much smaller percentage of abortions and had lower abortion rates. In 2014, women aged 20–24 and 25–29 years accounted for 32.2% and 26.7% of all reported abortions, respectively, and had abortion rates of 21.3 and 18.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 20–24 and 25–29 years, respectively. In contrast, women aged 30–34, 35–39, and ≥40 years accounted for 17.1%, 9.7%, and 3.6% of all reported abortions, respectively, and had abortion rates of 11.9, 7.2, and 2.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 30–34 years, 35–39 years, and ≥40 years, respectively. From 2005 to 2014, the abortion rate decreased among women aged 20–24, 25–29, 30–34, and 35–39 years by 27%, 16%, 12%, and 5%, respectively, but increased 4% among women aged ≥40 years.In 2014, adolescents aged <15 and 15–19 years accounted for 0.3% and 10.4% of all reported abortions, respectively, and had abortion rates of 0.5 and 7.5 abortions per 1,000 adolescents aged <15 and 15–19 years, respectively. From 2005 to 2014, the percentage of abortions accounted for by adolescents aged 15–19 years decreased 38%, and their abortion rate decreased 49%. These decreases were greater than the decreases for women in any older age group.In contrast to the percentage distribution of abortions and abortion rates by age, abortion ratios in 2014 and throughout the entire period of analysis were highest among adolescents and lowest among women aged 30–39 years. Abortion ra...

Medical abortion at 13 or more weeks gestation provided through telemedicine: A retrospective review of services

“…There are many reasons why women need abortion care in later gestations. Women at 13 weeks of pregnancy or later presenting for abortion are more likely than those seeking care earlier to be young or a victim of violence, to have detected their pregnancy later or have financial and logistical barriers to care, and to feel ambivalent about the pregnancy and abortion decision [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] . Additionally, medical or fetal indications for an abortion may not be apparent until later in pregnancy [24] .…”

Correction and Republication: Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2014

“…In accordance with December 2017 guidance from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( 2 ), MMWR is republishing the corrected report. The republished report has supplementary materials that include the original report with these corrections and additional text clearly marked ( 3 ).…”