About TFC

Tennesseans for Choice was founded in 1982 to support reproductive choice in TN.

http://www.guttmacher.org/datacenter/profiles/US.jsp

National Reproductive Health Profile BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Despite the demonstrable importance and ubiquity of contraception, the truth is that ensuring that every pregnancy is wanted and planned is difficult, at both the individual and the societal levels.

For the typical American woman to have two children, she will spend about five years pregnant, postpartum or attempting to become pregnant, and three decades-more than three-quarters of her reproductive life-trying to avoid pregnancy.

Not all women, however, are successful: About half of all pregnancies in the United States each year-more than three million of them-are unintended.

At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, one in 10 women will have an abortion by age 20, one in four by age 30 and three in 10 by age 45.

Nonetheless, contraceptive use can and does dramatically reduce women's odds of having an unintended pregnancy.

PREGNANCIES, BIRTHS AND ABORTIONS

In 2008, there were 6.4 million pregnancies to the 62 million women of reproductive age (15--44) in the United States. Sixty-six percent of these pregnancies resulted in live births and 19% in induced abortions.

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women-more than three million each year-are unintended, and about four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion.

In 2006, the national unintended pregnancy rate increased to 52 per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, up from 50 in 2001.

Unintended pregnancy rates are substantially higher among poor and low-income women, minority women, women aged 18--24, cohabiting women and women with exactly one child than among other groups.

Disparities in unintended pregnancy rates among subgroups of women have persisted over time, and in some cases have increased. As of 2006, poor women with family incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level have rates five times the rate of higher income women and two to three times the national rate.

Sixty-seven percent of pregnancies among black women, 53% among Hispanic women and 40% among white women are unintended.

Unintended pregnancy rates are generally highest in the South and Southwest, and in states with large urban populations.

In 2006, 64% of births resulting from unintended pregnancies were publicly funded, compared with 48% of all births and 35% of births resulting from intended pregnancies.

Of the two million publicly funded births, 51% resulted from unintended pregnancies, accounting for $11.1 billion in costs-half of the total public expenditures on births.

In 2008, 1,212,350 women obtained abortions in the United States, producing a rate of 19.6 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. This rate is virtually unchanged since 2005, when it was 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44.

Eighty-nine percent of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Eighteen percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are teenagers; those aged 15--17 obtain 6% of all abortions, teens aged 18--19 obtain 11% and teens younger than 15 obtain 0.4%. Women in their 20s account for more than half of all abortions; women aged 20--24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and women aged 25--29 obtain 24%. Non-Hispanic white women account for 36% of abortions, non-Hispanic black women for 30%, Hispanic women for 25% and women of other races for 9%. Women who have never married and are not cohabiting obtain 45% of all abortions.

About 61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.

Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children; $22,050 for a family of four). Twenty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100--199% of the federal poverty level.

In 2008, there were 1,793 abortion providers in the United States. This is virtually unchanged from 2005, when there were 1,787 abortion providers.

In 2008, 87% of U.S. counties had no abortion provider; 35% of women lived in these counties.