Each year on average, 2 percent of women of childbearing age have an abortion. The majority of abortions occur before 13 weeks gestation, and many states have attempted to ban abortion after the first trimester. There are many reasons why a woman chooses to have an abortion, including financial concerns, being single or in an unstable relationship, medical reasons and the negative impact parenting would have on the woman's life.
Prevalence
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, approximates that 23 percent of pregnancies end in an abortion. In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, a total of 846,181 abortions were reported to the CDC. The majority of these abortions, more than 60 percent, were performed at less than 13-weeks gestation, while the fewest were performed after 16-weeks gestation, accounting for less than 5 percent.
Demographic Information
The Guttmacher Institute, a worldwide agency that complies data on sexual and reproductive health issues, reports that more than half of all abortions are performed for women in their 20s. Teens ages 15 to17 obtain 6 percent of all abortions annually while teens 18 to19 account for 11 percent. Women of all religions seek abortions, with 37 percent identifying themselves as Protestant and 28 percent as Catholic. Furthermore, women obtaining abortions are almost equally dispersed among race; 25 percent of abortions occur among Hispanic women, 30 percent among African-American women, 36 percent among Causasian women and 9 percent among women identifying themselves as another race.
Surgical Abortions
The most common surgical abortion procedure performed is a suction aspiration, also known as suction curettage or vacuum aspiration. This procedure is done before 13-weeks gestation and typically done as an outpatient procedure. The abortion takes only approximately 10 minutes; however, the entire time spent by the woman in a clinic or doctors office is usually a few hours. The Feminist Women's Health Center explains that a surgical abortion is performed by placing the patient under anesthesia sedation or numbing the cervix, inserting a soft flexible tube and using suction to remove the fetus and all other products of conception.
Medical Abortions
For a medical abortion, Mifeprex, commonly known as the abortion pill, is an option for women who are less than eight-weeks pregnant. According to the Feminist Women's
Health Center, Mifeprex is a combination of two medications and is taken in the privacy of the patient's home. One pill is taken, followed 24 to 72 hours later by a second pill. Working in combination, the medications block progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy. Blocking progesterone leads to the uterus shedding its lining, and uterine contractions that lead to a miscarriage.
Side Effects
According to the American Pregnancy Association, the most common and expected side effect of an abortion is pain from uterine cramping, and more than 75 percent of women reported cramping post-abortion. Vaginal bleeding is also common, and may result from the loss of products of conception, as well as irritation to the cervix. Bleeding can range from mild to moderate, meaning from spotting up to the amount of bleeding that occurs during a normal menstrual cycle. Additional possible side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache or dizziness. These symptoms typically last no longer than a day or two.
Laws
Abortion rights are a legal battlefield and all states have laws regarding abortion in addition to federal laws in place. Twenty-four states require a waiting period, most often 24 hours, between the time a woman receives abortion counseling and having the actual abortion, with 17 states requiring counseling. The Guttmacher Institute reports that 34 states have parental notification laws, with 22 states requiring the consent of at least one parent and four states requiring consent from both parents. Additionally, laws have been enacted setting gestation limits on abortion, establishing what type of heath care provider can perform an abortion and whether a health care provider can refuse to perform or assist with the procedure.
