Abortion Rates on the Decline, But Disparity Exists Between Races

The overall abortion rate in the United States is at its lowest level since 1974. The drop, however, has been much more dramatic for whites than for African-Americans and Latinas.

According to a report released Monday, in 2004 African-Americans had abortions at five times the rate of white women. Latinas were found to have had abortions at three times the rate of whites.

The New York-based research group known as the Guttmacher Institute analyzed 30 years worth of data since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion.

Analyzing the data, researchers found that the disparity between races was partly reflected in varying pregnancy and childbearing patterns.

African-American women were found to have high rates of unintended pregnancy, with 70% compared to just 49% across all racial and ethnic groups. According to the report, about half of unintended pregnancies in the US end in abortion. Latinas were found to have higher pregnancy rates and higher birthrates than whites.

So while abortion rates are falling for blacks and Latinas, it is much less than whites. Claire D. Brindis, a professor of pediatrics and health policy at UC San Francisco and co-director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, said that it likely has more to do with income than race or ethnicity:

"Many of these women are low-income women who tend to have a higher rate of unintended pregnancy. Oftentimes, living in poverty they experience so many other challenges in their lives that they don't always know that they're eligible for family planning services or have transportation to services."

Brindis was not associated with the report, but does make a logical arguement. However, not everyone agrees. Day Gardner, founder and president of the National Black Pro-Life Union says that the high rates are a result of the number of inner-city clinics that performed abortions:

"It doesn't have as much to do with poverty as that the abortion facilities are there, ingrained in the neighborhoods. We as a community don't talk about this. . . . This is a silent killer among us."

Teen abortions were also found to have dropped significantly over the years, from 33% in 1974 to 17% in 2004. However this has been accompanied by a rise in teen births, which some have attributed to a greater societal acceptance of unwed mothers, difficulties in getting an abortion in some parts of the country, and changing attitudes toward abortion.

In 2004, half of women obtaining abortions were in their 20s, with 60% already having children.