Study: Fewer Teens Getting Pregnant, Fewer Pregnant Teens Have Abortions

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Study: Fewer Teens Getting Pregnant, Fewer Pregnant Teens Have Abortions

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 14, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study of teenagers provides pro-life advocates with a double dose of good news. The Centers for Disease Control says new national statistics show fewer teenage girls are getting pregnant and fewer pregnant teens are opting to have abortions.

The report also confirmed a study conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute earlier this year showing abortions declining and the abortion rate at its lowest since the year following Roe v. Wade.

The new report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics finds 38 percent of pregnancies in 2004 were to women 25 years old or younger, down from 43 percent in 1990.

Teenagers accounted for 15 percent of all pregnancies in 1990, and that number fell to 12 percent in 2004.

In total, the number of pregnancies fell 6 percent from 1990 to 2004 with 6.4 million pregnancies in 2004 and 4.11 million babies born. Of the babies who died after pregnancy, 1.22 became victims of abortion while 1.06 million died in stillbirths or miscarriages.

The CDC's Stephanie Ventura told Reuters that the percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion, including those among teenagers, is declining.

"More of them are likely to have the baby rather than having an abortion compared to 1990," Ventura said.

While more women are keeping their babies instead of having abortions, Ventura explained that figure is not consistent across all ethnic backgrounds as the abortion rate among black women remains significantly higher.

"There are large racial disparities in most of these measures," Ventura told Reuters.

While two-thirds of white and Hispanic women kept their babies when becoming pregnant, just 48 percent of African-American women opted to do so.

The researchers said the disparity is a result of decreased contraception use among black women, but pro-life advocates point to the high number of abortion businesses located in predominantly black communities.