Abortion Services in the United States, 1979 and 1980

Abstract

Reports results of the 7th national survey by the Alan Guttmacher Institute of all known providers of abortion in the US. There were 1.55 million abortions in 1980, about 1/4 of all pregnancies and 1/2 of unintended ones. About 3% of women of childbearing age obtained an abortion. The rate increased by 2% from 1979 to 1980, compared to an increase of 4% over the previous 2 years. As the increases have been smaller each year, the rate may stabilize in 1982 at 1980 levels. Despite the continuing controversy, geographic availability improved somewhat, although 78% of all counties had no provider and 59 of the 305 metropolitan areas had no facilities reporting abortions. Almost 70% of nonmetropolitan women live in counties with no facilities reporting abortions--only 4.5% of abortions take place in nonmetropolitan areas. Other factors restricting availability of abortion include lack of Medicaid funding in most states, parental notification and consent requirements (by law in 7 states), period of gestation at which abortions may be performed (30% of providers will only perform abortions up to 10 weeks' gestation; only 21% will perform them after 14 weeks), and the way in which hospitals are organized to provide services. 3/4 of all abortions were performed in 459 clinics and hospitals which reported 1000 or more abortions each. The proportion performed in nonhospital facilities has risen steadily since legalization: nearly 80% were performed in these facilities in 1980 compared with less than 1/2 in 1973. Improvements and simplification in abortion techniques have contributed to this trend. Only 55% of hospital abortion providers perform any outpatient abortions, and in most cases women are unable to arrange for a hospital abortion without a referral, further restricting access to abortion services in many cases.