The State of Nebraska requires by law that those who commit abortions report certain data to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) within 15 days from the end of the month in which the abortions are performed. Every spring, DHHS compiles this data and issues a statewide report of abortions.
The 2014 Nebraska Statistical Report on Abortions reveals that 2,270 abortions were reported in Nebraska last year. In 1974, the first full year after Roe v Wade legalized abortion, there were 3,094 abortions reported in Nebraska. That number steadily increased to its high point of 6,346 in 1990.
The good news is that the number of surgical abortions has steadily declined since 1990 in Nebraska and the 2014 total of abortions is about 66 percent lower than the 1990 total. The bad news is that the 2014 total is more than 4 percent higher than the number of abortions in 2013 and is the first year-over-year increase since 2008.
Reviewing Nebraska’s abortion statistics prompted me to check on the national and worldwide numbers and the result is staggering. Since 1973, there have been more than 58 million abortions in the United States. Worldwide, there have been more than 1.3 billion abortions since 1980. These numbers, and their sources, are compiled at www.numberofabortions.com.
Here are the most relevant statistics from the Nebraska report:
Age Distribution. By far, most abortions occurred in the 20-29 age group. Nearly 60 percent of all abortions were done on women in this age group. Women aged 30 years and older comprised 30.7 percent of the abortions. The most positive trend in the age distribution is among teens. In 1974, almost 41 percent of abortions were had by teens. In 2014, the percentage of abortions by teens was down to 10.2 percent.
A particularly sad statistic is that 10 girls under the age of 15 had abortions. Two of those girls were 12 years old, three were 13 years old and five were 14 years old. Another 221 teens (aged 15 to 19) had abortions.
Reasons for the abortions. As is typically the case, only a tiny fraction of the abortions (one-half of one percent or .05%) were done for the so-called “hard cases” of rape, incest and to prevent the death of the mother. Even if you add in those abortions done for the broader reason of a woman’s “health” (1.1%), the “hard cases” still only comprise about 1.6 percent of all abortions done in 2014.
Another revealing statistic is that about one-third (35.7%) of women having abortions reported that “no contraception was used.” This means, presumably, that about two-thirds (64.3 %) were using contraception when they got pregnant.
This statistic raises serious doubts about the claim that contraception will reduce abortions. In fact, even the Alan Guttmacher Institute (research affiliate of Planned Parenthood) acknowledges that women who use contraception are more likely to have abortions.
Guttmacher explains this phenomenon this way: “because women who are using contraception are motivated to prevent an unplanned birth, they are more likely than women who were not using contraceptives to seek an abortion should they accidentally become pregnant.”
Method of abortion. The most notable statistic in this category is that the number of “medication induced” abortions (RU-486) continues to climb. The 2014 number of 960 medication induced abortions is more than four times the number in 2009 and represents 42.3 percent of the abortions committed in 2014.
Repeat abortions. Another very sad statistic is that more than one third (35.7%) of the women obtaining abortions last year in Nebraska had one or more previous abortions. The breakdown of this statistic is incomprehensible: one previous abortion: 564; two previous abortions: 168; three previous abortions: 61; four previous abortions: 8; more than four previous abortions: 9.
The complete report of abortions can be seen online at www.dhhs.ne.gov (search for 2014 Statistical Report of Abortions).
When we contemplate that each abortion represents the killing of a human being and the wounding of his/her mother, father, family and society, this death toll in Nebraska, in the United States and worldwide is incomprehensible. Let us all pray and work for the end to this slaughter of the innocents.
