Sources:  Guttmacher Institute Report: "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services" 2005.

List Notes: Abortion rate is per 1,000 women aged 15-44. Note: Numbers of abortions are rounded to the nearest 10. Data is for the year 2005. Percent change is from the years 2000 to 2005.

1. According to the Guttmacher Institute abortion is a common experience: At current rates, about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches age 45. Moreover, a broad cross section of U.S. women have abortions. In 2008, the majority of women obtaining abortions (58%) were in their 20s; women in their 30s made up the second largest age-group (22%). 60% of women having abortions have one or more children; 86% are unmarried; 57% are economically disadvantaged; 88% live in a metropolitan area; and 78% report a religious affiliation. (a.)
2. 41% of women obtaining abortions are white non-Hispanic, 32% are black non-Hispanic, 20% are Hispanic and 7% are of other racial backgrounds. (a.)
3. In 2005, 1.2 million American women obtained abortions, producing a rate of 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. The rate declined 9% from 2000, when the abortion rate was 21.3 abortions per 1,000 women 15-44.(a.)
4. In the District of Columbia, 17,500 of the 133,368 women of reproductive age became pregnant in 2005. 46% of these pregnancies resulted in live births and 41% in induced abortions. (a.)
5. Slightly more than one in five pregnancies end in abortion, indicating that unwanted pregnancy is still a common occurrence in the United States. (a.)

Top 5 facts sources:

1. Guttmacher Institute. (2011). "State Facts About Abortion" fact sheet. Retrieved Jan, 2011 from: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/sfaa.html