Abortions at lowest level in Nebraska since 1974

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10420564

Published Sunday August 31, 2008
Abortions at lowest level in Nebraska since 1974
BY MICHAEL O'CONNOR AND RICK RUGGLES
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

Abortions have hit their lowest level in Nebraska since the state started tracking them in 1974, and a drop among teens is a major reason.

Total abortions among all ages of women peaked in 1990 and since then have declined by more than half, dropping to 2,927 in 2006, according to a report by the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Teen abortions have dropped nearly 75 percent since 1990, falling to an estimated 460 in 2006, the most recent year available — a drop that accounted for about 40 percent of the overall decline.

A reduction in teen pregnancies has been one key factor in the decline in teen abortions, said David Drozd, who analyzed State Health and Human Services Department data for the UNO center. The other key factor has been a smaller percentage of pregnancies among teens and women in their 20s ending in abortion.

The percent of pregnancies in that age group (women under 30) that ended in abortion dropped by about half between 1990 and 2006.

Heather Rader, a 21-year-old student at UNO, became pregnant about six months ago, and it was unplanned.

She had been dating a young man about a month, she said, and they were using the rhythm method to try to avoid pregnancy. She had been on the pill, but she said it made her sick.

FULL story at link.

[valerief]

1. I wonder how much the teen birth percent has gone up. I wonder

how the teen population has changed during that time period. I wonder how the use of contraception has changed. I wonder if more gay teens weren't closeted. A lot of factors affect the abortion rate.

[SmokingJacket]

2. It's a meaningless statistic unless

you know whether there were actually fewer unwanted pregnancies or if there more unwanted births.

Seems like it was a little of both...

[kestrel91316]

3. That's because abortion is basically unobtainable there, right?

On the bright side, it could also be because of Plan B and RU-486 and BCP access........