News

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new Center for Disease Control (CDC) report shows that the pregnancy rate in America dropped drastically between 1990 to 2009, by a margin of 11%.

The CDC reports that in 2005 there were about 6.4 million pregnancies in the U.S., or 103.2 pregnancies per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-44, compared to 115.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women in the same age range in 1990.

In 2005, the pregnancy rate dropped to near the rate recorded for 1976 – the year the government branch began collecting pregnancy data.  The drop in pregnancies was less steep among married women, who saw an 8% decrease in pregnancies between 1990-2005.  Younger teens, between the ages of 15-17, saw a greater decline in pregnancy rate than older teens.

Abortion rates also fell during this time period, according to the CDC – with 7 out of 1,000 pregnant women aborting their child in 2005, as opposed to 11 out of 1,000 in 1990.  Among unmarried pregnant women, 31 per 1,000 obtained an abortion in 2005 whereas 48 per 1,000 did so in 1990.

Of the 6.4 million U.S. pregnancies in 2005, the CDC report said 4.14 million ended in live births, 1.06 million in fetal losses, and 1.21 million in induced abortions.

A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, also indicated a reduction in abortion rates across the world from 1995-2003.  In 2003, the Institute reports that about 41.6 million children were killed by abortion across the globe, down from the mid-90s.

Click here to read the CDC's full report.