MEDIA KITS
An Overview of Abortion in the United States
NEWS RELEASES
Perception That Teens Frequently Substitute Oral Sex for Intercourse a Myth
(05/20/2008)
Despite Risk of Unintended Pregnancy, Many Women Unprotected
(05/13/2008)
Unsafe Abortion Kills Over 3,000 Nigerian Women Each Year
(04/22/2008)
EVIDENCE CHECK
Review of Key Findings of "Emerging Answers 2007" (November 2007)
Review of an authoritative report on the effectiveness of sex education programs concluding that there is not sufficient evidence to justify the widespread dissemination of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
Advisory on Zogby Poll Commissioned by NAEA (July 2007)
Review of a biased survey conducted by Zogby International on behalf of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) in May 2007 that purports to show broad public support for abstinence-only education.
Advisory on ACF Review of Comprehensive Sex Ed Curricula (July 2007)
Review of a poorly conducted analysis on the content and effectiveness of nine comprehensive sex education curricula released by the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in June 2007.
NEWS IN CONTEXT
Council of Europe Urges Member States to Decriminalize Abortion
Teen Pregnancy Rates Declined to Historic Low in 2004
Improved Contraceptive Use a Key Factor
State Reproductive Health Policy in 2008
Council of Europe Urges Member States to Decriminalize Abortion
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a group comprising members from 47 European countries, has adopted a resolution calling for the decriminalization of abortion within reasonable gestational limits and guaranteed access to safe abortion procedures. The nonbinding resolution was passed on April 16 by a vote of 102 to 69. While most member states currently permit abortion under broad grounds, some countries severely restrict abortion.
Recent worldwide abortion estimates from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO) found that while overall abortion rates declined between 1995 and 2003, the lowest abortion rates occurred in those Western European countries where abortion is legal under broad grounds, and contraceptive services and use are widespread.
"We know, and the evidence confirms yet again, that the best way to make abortion less necessary is to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place," says Dr. Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. "And we know that the crucial first step in making abortion safer is to legalize the procedure, ensuring that it is performed by skilled providers under the best possible conditions. It’s time for policymakers worldwide to renew their commitment to women’s health by addressing these crucial issues."
The Guttmacher Institute and WHO study found that nearly half of the 42 million induced abortions in 2003 were clandestine and unsafe. Further, the abortion rate was roughly equal in places where it is legal and where it is illegal, suggesting that restrictive policies do not lead to fewer abortions. Complications from unsafe abortions account for the deaths of some 67,000 women each year—an estimated 13% of maternal deaths worldwide. Reducing the incidence of clandestine abortion would result in an immediate and substantial reduction of maternal mortality.
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New evidence and the worldwide abortion debate
Teen Pregnancy Rates Declined to Historic Low in 2004
Improved Contraceptive Use a Key Factor
Continuing a decades-long trend, the teenage pregnancy rate fell 38%, from the all-time high in 1990 to a historic low in 2004, according to a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the CDC. The decline is due in large part to improved contraceptive use among sexually active teens. A recent analysis by the Guttmacher Institute found that 86% of the decline in teen pregnancy between 1995 and 2002 was due to more teens using contraception and using it more effectively.
Previous government studies documented a trend toward improved condom use, in particular. The proportion of high school students who reported using a condom during last sexual intercourse increased consistently between 1991 and 2003, from 46% to 63%, and remained at that level between 2003 and 2005. But future gains may be jeopardized by the fact that the proportion of U.S. teens receiving any formal instruction about birth control methods has declined sharply. As a 2006 study by the Guttmacher Institute revealed, only 66% of males and 70% of females received formal instruction about birth control in 2002, compared with 81–87% in 1995.
Declines in teen pregnancy rates between 1990 and 2004 are also reflected in steady declines in both teen birthrates and abortion rates during that period. However, the CDC recently reported that in 2006, teen birthrates increased for the first time in over a decade. Pregnancy data are not yet available for 2006, so it’s not yet possible to determine the reasons for this increase.
The CDC data reinforce the need for comprehensive, medically accurate sex education programs for teens that include information about consistent, correct contraceptive use. Taken together, the above findings also make the case for improved access to confidential reproductive health services to help teens continue the progress they’ve made in reducing unintended pregnancies. Well conducted studies overwhelmingly show that abstinence-only programs do not work, leading 17 states to opt out of the federal funding for these programs. Policymakers should stop pouring money into programs that are proven ineffective and should instead support our nation’s youth with proven strategies such as dedicated funding for comprehensive sex education programs.
For more information:
Click here for Guttmacher data on teen sexual and reproductive health
Click here for information on the states that have opted out of abstinence-only funding
Click here for information on strategies that work
Click here for the CDC report Estimated Pregnancy Rates by Outcome for the United States, 1990–2004
State Reproductive Health Policy in 2008
With the legislative year in full swing, some interesting trends are emerging, largely in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Carhart. In its most direct effect, the Court’s decision to uphold the Federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 set a major precedent that state legislators seem to be following. Twenty-three bills banning “partial-birth” abortion have been introduced in 11 states so far this year (see Bans on “Partial- Birth” Abortion).
Most of these measures are characterized by their definition of the procedure, lack of a health exception and strict penalties. The Court upheld the federal ban, in part, because it found the definition of the procedure to be sufficiently precise so as to exclude most common second-trimester procedures. To follow this precedent, the pending state measures generally lift the federal ban’s definition almost verbatim.
In addition to upholding the federal ban on “partial-birth” abortion, the Court’s decision in Gonzales v. Carhart included language essentially inviting states to utilize their abortion counseling requirements to include the provision of information aimed at dissuading women from obtaining an abortion (see State Abortion Counseling Policies and the Fundamental Principles of Informed Consent). So far this year, most of the attention given to issues related to abortion counseling has been focused on measures that would mandate the provision of information or services related to ultrasound prior to an abortion.
Most dramatically, measures in eight states (Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) would go so far as to require the provider to perform an ultrasound prior to any abortion. Some of these would require that the woman be given the opportunity to review the image, while others would not give her that choice. Bills that have passed one house of the legislature in Kentucky and Oklahoma require the provider to review the image with the woman, while permitting the woman to “avert” her eyes from the image if she chooses. Fifteen states had laws on ultrasound provision as of March 31, 2008 (see Requirements for Ultrasound).
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Major state legislative actions so far this year
The status of state laws and policies on key reproductive health and rights issues
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