Abortion Need and Services in the United States, 1974-1975

Abstract

More than one million legal abortions were performed in the United States last year--but one-half to three-quarters of a million women in need of abortion services were still unable to obtain them. Ninety percent of all abortions are now performed in the woman's home state, but services are still highly concentrated within states--typically in one or two metropolitan centers where most services are provided by nonhospital clinics. Only one-fourth of hospitals-and fewer than one-fifth of public hospitals-provide any abortion services. Many poor, rural and teenage women who can least afford to travel to obtain legal abortions will continue to be denied access to the services they want and need.