A recent report by the Wall Street Journal, citing statistics from the Guttmacher Institute, shows that both fertility rates and abortion rates are on the decline in the United States.
The report cites two measures that indicate fertility is near record lows. First, approximately 3.85 million babies were born in 2017, the lowest number since 1987. And second, the 1.8 fertility rate – the number of children women are expected to have in their lifetimes – is near the 1976 low of 1.7.
On the abortion front, the WSJ reports “for the first time since 1975, the total number of abortions in the U.S. dropped below 1 million in 2013, when 958,700 were performed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization started in 1968. In 2014, the most recent data available, the number fell to 926,200.”
The WSJ reports that the 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women in the 15 to 44 age group is the lowest rate observed in the U.S. since 1973. In 1973, when abortion became legal in all states, there were 16.3 abortions per 1,000 women.
WSJ Report: Abortions Decline to 926,000 in 2014 added by Staff on
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