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U.S. Abortion Rate Drops To Record Low

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Pregnancy and abortion rates have both dropped in the United States, reaching record lows, according to a new CDC report in which researchers examined 20 years worth of data.

From 1990 to 2010, the rate of abortions in the U.S. dropped 35 percent. According to the report’s lead author Sally Curton, a statistician for the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, this marks the lowest recorded point since the CDC first started tracking abortions back in 1976, HealthDay reported.

Curtin was quoted by VOA News as having said that the rate of abortions “has been on a nearly steady decline since the rate peaked in 1980.”

Pregnancy rates for U.S. teens ages 14 and younger are down 67 percent in comparison to 1990, which is the last time the CDC tracked the numbers. In teens 15-19, the pregnancy rates are down 50 percent.

While pregnancy rates are down in teenagers, birth rates in women 30 and older have increased, with those 40 and older increasing 70 percent.

Racial differences in rates reportedly narrowed between Hispanic, black and white women.

Curtin was quoted by TIME as having referred to the report as “a comprehensive picture of fertility.”

The beauty of the report really is that it presents a comprehensive picture of fertility

Putting abortions into context, Curtin said that we “can see that in a given year, the numbers of abortions, which is 1.1 million, is about the same as fetal loss,” which was “very different” in 1976 when it was nearly two-fold what it is now.

Randall O’Bannon, the director of education and research at the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, was quoted by HealthDay as having said that the abortion rate’s decline can be attributed to change in the “attitudes and actions” of people in regards to abortions.

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