Reducing the U.S. abortion rate

Comparing adolescent pregnancy and
abortion rates in the U.S. with Europe

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Reducing abortions by reducing unwanted pregnancies:

Every time that an unwanted pregnancy is prevented -- either by:

then one abortion may also have been prevented.

Laws that restrict access to abortion clinics will also reduce the number of abortions. However, this approach has its limits. Women can and do go to adjacent states with more liberal laws to obtain their abortion. If necessary, they can travel to another country. Some stay at home and seek illegal abortions.

Many western European countries have numerous points of similarity to the U.S.:

However, many European countries tend to have a much lower adolescent pregnancy, live birth, and abortion rates than does the United States. If the cause(s) of this difference can be isolated and applied in the U.S., then adolescent abortion rates could be drastically reduced.

Comparison of abortion statistics in the U.S., France, Germany and the Netherlands:

Advocates for Youth report the following annual rates, per thousand adolescents:

The percentages show the rate for each country expressed as a percentage of the U.S. value. For example, the Netherlands abortion rate per year is 4.2 per thousand adolescents which is about 15% of the American figure.

Adolescent abortions in the U.S.:

Even as the number of American adolescents has gradually increased, the number of abortions has gone down markedly, at least among whites and blacks; it has increased among Hispanics:

Numbers of induced abortions, in thousands, for teenagers 15 to 19

As of early 2007, data for 2002 is the most recent available.

The number of abortions during 2002 by adolescents in the U.S. would be reduced by about:

Lowering the adolescent abortion rate would probably also reduce the rate of abortions among older women as well. It is not beyond reason to hope that the current number of abortions -- over one million per year -- could be eventually reduced to a few hundred thousand if European policies were adopted!

Lowering the number of live births would also have a significant impact on the quality of lives among adolescents. For example:

Advocates for Youth also have listed sexually transmitted disease prevalence rates for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. Rates in the U.S. range from 6 to 74 times higher than whichever of the above three European states has the lowest values.

To most supporters of the pro-life movement, human life becomes a human person at conception. Thus one fewer abortion means one fewer murder of a human being. The stakes are extremely high. Preventing the deaths through abortion of hundreds of thousands of embryos and a smaller number of fetuses would be of immense importance to pro-lifers. However, among many pro-lifers who are also Roman Catholics, reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies through the use of contraception is unacceptable.

What does Europe do differently?

Advocates for Youth and the University of North Carolina sponsor a tour each year to these three European countries to help "policy makers, researchers, youth serving professionals, foundation officers and youth" understand why there is such a large difference between American and European statistics on numbers of pregnancies, abortions, and live births.

They find that:

"Each of these nations has an unwritten social contract with young people: 'We'll respect your right to act responsibly, giving you the tools you need to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV'."

The public in these European countries:

The governments:

The end results are that:

Advocates for Youth promote the adoption of the European model towards sex. They have created a "Rights. Respect. Responsibility^.®" national campaign to achieve this.

References used:

Copyright © 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2007-JAN-21
Latest update: 2006-JAN-22
Author: B.A. Robinson