Abortion rate falls to lowest level since 1973
The abortion rate in the United States has dropped to its lowest level since the procedure became legal in 1973. New data show a 13 percent decline in both the abortion rate and the number of abortions from 2008 to 2011.
The report issued February 3 by the Guttmacher Institute in New York finds the 2011 rate declined to 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15–44, second only to 1973, when the rate was 16.3 per 1,000.
Declines were seen in all but six states—Alaska, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Wyoming—which saw either no change or an increase in abortion rates.
