|
Reasons
Given For Abortions
How many abortion are from
rape and incest? According to Planned Parenthood's
Alan Guttmacher Institute, less than one percent.
About 4 percent are from physical health risks, and 3
percent from some problem with the unborn.
The following are three
charts on reasons given for abortion. The first two
are from the leading abortion provider Planned
Parenthood's Alan Guttmacher Institute's survey on "Reasons
U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative
Perspectives,
Table 2, and
Table 3" (Perspectives
on Sexual and Reproductive Health Volume 37, Number 3,
September 2005 ).
The
third chart (Why
Do Women Have Abortions),
is a statistical breakdown or grouping
of Planned Parenthood's
surveys by National Right To Life. It summarizes
Planned Parenthood's data and is an excellent one page
summary.
TABLE 2.
Percentage of women reporting that specified reasons
contributed to their
decision to have an abortion, 2004 and 1987
http://www.guttmacher.org/tables/370305/3711005t2.pdf.
Reason
2004
1987
(N=1,160)
(N=1,900)
Having a
baby would dramatically change my life
74 78*
Would
interfere with education
38
36
Would
interfere with job/employment/career
38 50***
Have
other children or dependents
3
22 2***
Can’t
afford a baby now
73 69
Unmarried
42 na
Student
or planning to
study
34 na
Can’t
afford a baby and child care
28
na
Can’t
afford the basic needs of life
23
na
Unemployed
22 na
Can’t
leave job to take care of a baby
21
na
Would
have to find a new place to live
19
na
Not
enough support from husband or partner
14 na
Husband
or partner is unemployed
12
na
Currently
or temporarily on welfare or public assistance
8 na
Don’t
want to be a single mother or having relationship
problems
48 52*
Not sure
about relationship
19 na
Partner
and I can’t or don’t want to get married
12 30***
Not in a
relationship right now
11
12
Relationship or marriage may break up soon
11 16*
Husband
or partner is abusive to me or my children
2 3
Have
completed my childbearing
38
28**
Not ready
for a(nother) child†
32
36
Don’t
want people to know I had sex or got pregnant
25 33*
Don’t
feel mature enough to raise a(nother) child
22 27*
Husband
or partner wants me to have an abortion
14 24***
Possible
problems affecting the health of the fetus
13 14
Physical
problem with my health
12
8**
Parents
want me to have an abortion
6
8
Was a
victim of rape
1 1
Became
pregnant as a result of incest
<0.5
<0.5
*p<.05.
**p<.01. ***p<.001. †This was a write-in response in 2004
and 1987. na=not applicable, because
survey
questions were not comparable. Source: 1987—reference 4.
TABLE 3. Percentage distribution of women having an
abortion, by their most important reason for having the
abortion, 2004 and 1987
http://www.guttmacher.org/tables/370305/3711005t2.pdf.
Reason
2004 1987
(N=957)
(N=1,773)
Not ready
for a(nother) child†/timing is wrong
25 27
Can’t
afford a baby now
23 21
Have
completed my childbearing/have other people depending on
me/
children
are grown
19 8***
Don’t
want to be a single mother/am having relationship problems
8 13***
Don’t
feel mature enough to raise a(nother) child/feel too young
7 11**
Would
interfere with education or career plans
4 1 0***
Physical
problem with my health
4 3
Possible
problems affecting the health of the fetus
3 3
Was a
victim of rape
<0.5 1
Husband
or partner wants me to have an abortion
<0.5 1
Parents
want me to have an abortion
<0.5
<0.5
Don’t
want people to know I had sex or got pregnant
<0.5 1***
Other
6 1
Total
100 100
National Right To Life's
Statistical Breakdown from this last
table
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/reasonsabortions.html.
Why Do Women Have Abortions?
- a statistical breakdown*
|
Responses listed as primary reason |
% |
|
Social Reasons (given as primary reason) |
|
|
- Feels unready for
child/responsibility |
25% |
|
- Feels she can't afford baby |
23% |
|
- Has all the children she
wants/Other family responsibilities |
19% |
|
- Relationship problem/Single
motherhood |
8% |
|
- Feels she isn't mature enough |
7% |
|
- Interference with
education/career plans |
4% |
|
- Parents/Partner wants abortion |
<1% |
|
- Other reasons |
<6.5% |
|
TOTAL: |
93%
(Approx.) |
|
"Hard Cases" (given as primary reason) |
|
|
- Mother's Health |
4% |
|
- Baby may have health
problem |
3% |
|
- Rape or Incest |
<0.5% |
|
|
|
|
TOTAL:
|
7%
(Approx.)
|
Return
to the abortion information page |
