Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Data --
United States, 1990
For 1990, CDC received data on legal induced abortions from 52
reporting areas: 50 states, New York City, and the District of
Columbia. This report presents preliminary data for 1990.
In 1990, 1,429,577 legal abortions were reported to CDC (Table
1), an increase of 2.4% over the number reported for 1989 (1).
However, because the number of live births increased by 3.4%, the
national abortion ratio declined from 346 legal abortions per 1000
live births in 1989 to 344 per 1000 in 1990. The national abortion
rate (the number of legal abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44
years) remained stable at 24. As in previous years, approximately
92% of women who had a legal abortion were residents of the state
in which the procedure was performed.
Women who obtained legal abortions in 1990 were predominately
aged less than 25 years, white, and unmarried. In 1990, a slightly
lower proportion of women who had abortions had had live-born
children than was reported for women obtaining abortions in 1989
(49.2% versus 52.2%). Curettage (suction and sharp) remained the
primary abortion procedure (approximately 99% of all such
procedures). As in previous years, more than half of legal
abortions were performed during the first 8 weeks of gestation, and
approximately 88% during the first 12 weeks.
Reported by: Statistics and Computer Resources Br, Div of
Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion, CDC.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: For 1990, the number of abortions was available for
all reporting areas. Approximately 28% of the abortions, however,
were reported from states that do not have centralized reporting;
these areas could provide no information on the characteristics of
women obtaining abortions. The states that report such information
vary from year to year; therefore, direct comparisons of annual
data should be made with caution.
The patterns characterizing the use of abortion in the United
States have remained relatively stable since 1980. Although the
number of abortions performed in 1990 was approximately 10% greater
than in 1980, the number of live births increased by approximately
16% during the same period (2). In 1990, the national ratio of
abortions to live births was lower than for any year since 1977,
suggesting that a larger proportion of pregnancies ended in live
births (3). The national abortion rate has fluctuated little since
1980, while the national fertility rate (live births per 1000 women
of reproductive age) in 1990 was the highest since 1972 (4) (Figure
1).
NCHS. Annual summary of births, marriages, divorces, and deaths:
United States, 1990. Hyattsville, Maryland: US Department of Health
and Human Services, Public Health Service, CDC, 1991. (Monthly
vital statistics report; vol 39, no. 13).
CDC. Abortion surveillance, 1977. Atlanta: US Department of
Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1979.
NCHS. Advance report of final natality statistics, 1989.
Hyattsville, Maryland: US Department of Health and Human Services,
Public Health Service, CDC, 1991. (Monthly vital statistics report;
vol 40, no. 8, suppl).
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