Category: Statistics and Polls

“A 1997 Gallup poll underlined the importance of reaching college-age women. It showed that the influence higher education had on opinions and attitudes about abortion was extraordinary and revolutionary. When men go to college they don’t change their opinion about abortion, although overall they are more for abortion than women. But women, when they graduate from high school, are more against abortion than they are for it. By the time they are graduated from a four-year institution, however, three out of four women support abortion.

It breaks down like this: When they enter college, 37 percent support abortion and 56 percent oppose it. Four years later, 73 percent support abortion. It’s that much of an increase.

These are old statistics, but still notable.

A Feminist Who Takes a Pro-Life Stand. Contributors: Stephen Goode – author. Magazine Title: Insight on the News. Volume: 17. Issue: 37. Publication Date: October 1, 2001. Page Number: 36.

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According to a 1996 report:

in the state of Maryland the repeat abortion rate was 70% with one third of the women having three or more abortions

in New York City the repeat abortion was 64% with one third having three or more abortions

Koonin, L., Strauss, L., Chrisman L, Montalbano M, Bartlett L, Smith J. Abortion Surveillance – United States, 1996: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control, surveillance summaries 1999 July 30; 48 (4) 1 – 42

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At the time of the decision up to 55% of women aren’t certain that abortion is the right choice.

according to the study:

“Ambivalent women more often felt exposed to social pressure and some felt that the abortion was not their own choice… The ambivalent women more often stated that it was their partner who decided on abortion… Only a minority initially wanted abortion when the pregnancy was established.”

Husfeldt C, Hansen SK, Lyngberg A, Nobbebo M, Petersson B. Ambivalence among Women Applying for Abortion. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandanavica 1995 November; 74 (10): 813 – 7; P813

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An article in the New York Times revealed the following statistics:

59 percent of all abortion doctors are at least 65 years old. That’s not a typo: nearly two-thirds are beyond legal retirement age. Most doctors who perform abortions specialize in obstetrics and gynecology; according to a study done three years ago, the percentage of OB-GYN’s willing to perform abortions dropped from 42 percent in 1983 to 33 percent in 1995. (Doctors going into what’s called family-practice medicine were thought by some to be part of the next generation of abortion providers, but a study published in October revealed that only 15 percent of chief residents doing family practice had any experience with the simplest abortion procedure.)

OB-GYN’s learn the surgeries and procedures associated with abortion during their hospital residency programs. A 1991 study showed that only 12 percent of these programs now routinely teach abortion, and, according to Philip Darney, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco’s medical school, all indications are that the percentage is ”still trending down.”

Some 2 percent of OB-GYN’s perform more than 25 abortions per month.

Jack Hitt “Who Will Do Abortions Here?” New York Times Jan 18, 1998

 

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After Roe versus Wade, conceptions rose by 30%, but births fell by 6%

Steven D Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics (New York: HarperCollins, 2005) 139

Perhaps the easy availability of abortion led to more couples taking risks and not using birth control. Half of the women who come in for abortions were not using contraception when they got pregnant.

 

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“Although some of the men stuck by the women… About 75% of the men fled after paying part or all of the costs of the abortion. Some of them just fled – paying nothing…”

Ervin P. Women Exploited: the Other Victims of Abortion (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1985) 140

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According to a 1995 survey, done by The Joint Center for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, among women considering an abortion, 17% would be more likely to abort if fetal tissue could be donated.

The Pro-Life Infonet, May 2000 “Fetal Tissue Research Raises Disturbing Questions” Paul Ranalli

 

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“Pressure from boyfriends and husbands to abort was a problem familiar to abortion clinic counselors.  In a 1987, a study by Planned Parenthood’s Alan Guttmacher Institute  found that 23% of abortion patients said they were having the procedure in part because their husbands or boyfriends wanted it. Among eighteen and nineteen year olds women, that figure soared to nearly 30%.”

FPT August 1988 170

Read more about coerced abortions, and a more recent study that gave a 64% coercion rate here.

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According to the article “Study: Fewer Doctors Are Offering Abortions” :

‘Ninety-seven percent of obstetrician-gynecologists have encountered patients wanting an abortion, but only 14 percent performed them

(Study in Obstetrics and Gynecology published in AUGUST 22ND, 2011)

Statistics can be broken down as follows:

• Women physicians are more likely than male physicians to provide an abortion (18.6 percent v. 10.6 percent)
• Young doctors (ages 26 to 35) are the most likely to offer abortion, followed by the oldest doctors (ages 56 to  65)
• Doctors in the Northeast or West are more likely to offer the procedure than those in the South or Midwest
• Urban doctors are more likely than rural doctors to perform abortions

 

 

 

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