Happy Birthday Roe v Wade!!!

[elliejay21]

What's not sound is the idea of a court deciding when the point of viability is. That's a random made up day decided by a loony left wing court.

Abortion as a population control is not any kind of answer.

THESE comments, I agree with. No court OR legislation should be involved in deciding the threshold of viability, which is commonly accepted as 750g, roughly 20-25 weeks of gestation or mid-late 2nd trimester. Below this point, it is accepted that extraordinary measures are not taken if the woman goes into labor AND elective termination is legal in most states.

The survival rate for infants born from 22 to 25 weeks of gestation increases with each additional week of gestation. However, the incidence of moderate or severe neurodevelopmental disability in surviving children assessed at the age of 18 to 30 months is high (approximately 30%–50%) and does not appear to decrease over the 23- to 25-week gestation period. Many of these infants require prolonged intensive and long-term care. The commitment for all aspects of care may be extensive, multidisciplinary, lifelong, and costly.

ONE of the hidden aspects of President GW Bush's Federal Abortion Ban is a legislated lowering of the threshold of viability, which takes away parents and doctors rights to make a judgement call not to resuscitate a still born infant, ostensibly to prevent late term abortions. This is a loony arbitrary decision to fix a made up problem decided by a religious right wing fanatic.

My other issue with the "pro-life" contingent is that they want to ban not only abortion, but also real sex education, hormone-based contraceptives, prophalactic devices, spermacides, surgical sterilization, emergency contraception/plan B or any way to prevent babies from being born other than abstinence.

Thank GOD that new loony lib in the White House immediately repealed the global gag rule!

[MSBNYY]

But again, you're assuming that viability should be defined as when a baby can live on its own outside of the womb. Why does THAT have to be considered a point where killing is distinguished? Who decided that?

Why not when a baby can walk, or talk?

Even by the end of the first trimester, a baby is fully formed and just has to grow. It's just an arbitrary point.

[elliejay21]

I think almost 900,000 births prevented has a pretty significant impact on the population, no?

Overall, the annual number of legal induced abortions in the United States increased gradually from 1973 until it peaked in 1990, and it generally declined thereafter (Figure 1). In 2004, a total of 839,226 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC by 49 reporting areas. This change represents a 1.1% decline from 2003, for which 49 areas reported 848,163 legal induced abortions (Tables 1 and 2).

The national legal induced abortion ratio increased from 196 per 1,000 live births in 1973 (the first year that 52 areas reported) to 358 per 1,000 in 1979 and remained nearly stable through 1981 (Figure 1; Table 2). The ratio peaked at 364 per 1,000 in 1984 and since then has demonstrated a generally steady decline. In 2004, the abortion ratio was 238 per 1,000 in 49 reporting areas and 239 for the same 47 reporting areas for which data were available since 1998 (Table 2).

The national legal induced abortion rate increased from 14 per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years in 1973 to 25 per 1,000 in 1980. The rate remained stable, at 23--24 per 1,000 during the 1980s and early 1990s and at 20--21 per 1,000 during 1994--1997. The abortion rate remained unchanged at 17 per 1,000 during 1998--1999 and at 16 per 1,000 during 2000--2002 both overall and in the same 47 reporting areas. During 2003--2004, the abortion rate remained unchanged overall at 16 per 1,000, decreased to 15 per 1,000 in 2003, and to 16 in 2004 in the 47 reporting areas.

The numbers, ratios, and rates of reported legal induced abortions are presented by area of residence and by area of occurrence (Table 3). In 2004, the highest number of reported legal induced abortions occurred in Florida (91,710), NYC (91,673), and Texas (74,801); the fewest† occurred in Wyoming (12), South Dakota (814), and Idaho (963) {These states with the low "reported rates" have the strictest laws} (Table 3). The abortion ratios by state or area of occurrence ranged from 43 per 1,000 live births in Idaho to 770 per 1,000 in NYC. Among women aged 15--44 years, rates by occurrence ranged from three per 1,000 women in Idaho to 30 per 1,000 in New York. These ratios and rates should be viewed with consideration of the sizable variation by state in the percentage of abortions obtained by out-of-state residents. In 2004, approximately 8% of reported abortions were obtained by out-of-state residents (range: from 0.2% [in Alaska] to 53% [in DC]) (Table 3). Data by state of residence are incomplete because three states (California, New Hampshire, and West Virginia) did not report any data on abortion, and seven states (Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Massachusetts) did not provide data concerning the residence status of all women obtaining abortions in their state. Thus, ratios and rates by state of residence should be viewed with caution because of the substantial variation in completeness of reporting of residence information.

Women known to be aged 20--24 years obtained 33% of all abortions for which age was adequately reported. Adolescents reported as age <15 years obtained <1.0% of all abortions in the 48 areas that reported age. Among the 48 reporting areas, age was not reported for 0.5% of patients; however, this percentage ranged from 0.0% (in 18 areas) to 4.5% (Nevada) (Table 4). Abortion ratios were highest for adolescents aged <15 years (762 per 1,000 live births) and lowest for women aged 30--34 years (143 per 1,000) (Figure 2; Table 4). In contrast to abortion ratios, among females for whom age was reported, abortion rates were highest for women aged 20--24 years (30 per 1,000 women) and lowest for females at the extremes of reproductive age (1 per 1,000 adolescents aged 13--14 years and 3 per 1,000 women aged >40 years) (Table 4). Among women aged <20 years (46 reporting areas), the percentage of abortions obtained increased with age (Table 5); however, the abortion ratio was highest for adolescents aged <15 years§ (773 per 1,000 live births) and lowest for women aged 19 years (325 per 1,000). Conversely, the rates of abortions were lowest (1 per 1,000) for adolescents aged <15 years and highest (27 per 1,000) for women aged 19 years (Table 5).

Abortion trends by age indicate that since 1973, abortion ratios have been higher for adolescents aged <15 years than for any other age group (Figure 3). For females aged <19 years and those aged >40 years, the abortion ratio generally increased from 1974 through the early 1980s and declined thereafter. The abortion ratio for women aged 20--34 years (those with the highest fertility rates) has declined slightly since the mid-1980s. The abortion ratio for women aged 35--39 years has declined gradually over time (Figure 3).

In 2004, for women from areas where weeks of gestation at the time of abortion were adequately reported (44 reporting areas), 61% of reported legal induced abortions were known to have been obtained at <8 weeks' gestation and 87% at <12 weeks (Table 6). Overall (41 reporting areas), 28% of abortions were known to have been performed at <6 weeks' gestation, 18% at 7 weeks, and 15% at 8 weeks (Table 7). Few reported abortions were known to have occurred after 15 weeks' gestation: 3.7% at 16--20 weeks and 1.3% at >21 weeks.

...

In the 38 reporting areas for which race was provided, classified according to the same categories used in previous years, approximately 53% of women who obtained legal induced abortions were white; 35%, black; and 8%, other; race was not known for 4% (Table 9). The abortion ratio for black women (472 per 1,000 live births) was 2.9 times the ratio for white women (161 per 1,000), and the ratio for women of the nonhomogeneous "other" race category (330 per 1,000) was 2.0 times the ratio for white women. The abortion rate for black women (28 per 1,000 women) was 2.9 times the rate for white women (10 per 1,000), and the abortion rate for women of other races (22 per 1,000 women) was 2.2 times the rate for white women.

...

For women whose marital status was adequately reported (41 reporting areas), 80% of women who obtained abortions were known to be unmarried (Table 11). The abortion ratio for unmarried women (510 per 1,000 live births) was 8.4 times that for married women (61 per 1,000).

For women who obtained legal induced abortions and for whom data on previous live births were adequately reported (41 reporting areas), 40% were known to have had no previous live births, and 32% had had two or more previous live births (Table 12). The abortion ratio was highest for women who had three previous live births (274 per 1,000 live births) and lowest for those who had one previous live birth (190 per 1,000).

For women who obtained an abortion and whose number of previous abortions were adequately reported (41 reporting areas), 54% were reported to have obtained an abortion for the first time, and 19% were reported to have had at least two previous abortions (Table 13).

...

Approximately 88% of all abortions for which gestational age at the time of abortion was known and reported adequately (44 reporting areas) were obtained at <12 weeks' gestation (Table 1). The percentage of women who obtained an abortion at <8 weeks' gestation increased with age (Figure 4; Table 16). This association was most pronounced for abortions obtained at <6 weeks' gestation (41 reporting areas) (Table 17). The percentage of women who obtained an abortion decreased with age for women who obtained an abortion at 9--10, 11--12, and 13--15 weeks' gestation, through age 30--34 years at 16--20 weeks' gestation, and through age 25--29 years at >21 weeks' gestation (Table 16). Among women with adequately reported race and weeks of gestation (33 reporting areas), white women and women of other races were more likely than black women to obtain abortions at <6 and 7 weeks' gestation, but less likely after that (Tables 16 and 17). Among women with adequately reported known ethnicity and weeks of gestation (25 reporting areas), the difference in timing of their abortions between Hispanic and non-Hispanic women was minimal (<4.3%) at any gestational age (Tables 16 and 17).

...

In this report, the abortion rate for the United States was higher than rates reported for Canada and Western European countries {where the laws are LEAST restrictive and real sex education/contraception is MOST readily available} and lower than rates reported for China, Cuba, the majority of Eastern European countries, and certain Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union {where the laws are MOST restrictive and contraception is LEAST available}.

Stolen, without permission, from out friends at the CDC...
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5609a1.htm

[MSBNYY]

Next question then--approximately how many babies are BORN?

[elliejay21]

I know math is hard, but if In 2004, the abortion ratio was 238 per 1,000 {live births} in 49 reporting areas and there were 839,226 abortions...

238/1000 = 839226/x x=35261597

Approximately 35,261,597 live births occurred in 2004, and legal abortion reduced the birth rate by roughly 24% - I don't think there is anywhere you can get an even roughly accurrate accounting of how many actual pregnancies there were; inclusive of still births, miscarriages and illegally induced abortions, because most of this data is not reported.