Abortion statistics

Last Friday I posted some Readings on Abortion. To follow up, here are some facts on abortion.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBER) gives a good bit of information. The statistics at their site "are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives." The CBER is a pro-life group dedicated to ending abortion. Using Guttmacher/Planned Parenthood stats assures that we are not trying skew the numbers with pro-life "spin", as these numbers come from a pro-abortion industry.

The most recent statistics for annual abortions performed in the U.S. are from 2008. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1.21 million abortions were performed in the United States in 2008. The CBER also notes: "1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient)."

This is interesting, because "rape, incest and the life of the mother" are the reasons for abortion used to gain pity from the general populace. Yet based on the abortion industry's own numbers, only 7% of abortions are performed for reasons of rape, incest or the life of the mother. Of the 1.21 million abortions performed annually, 1.12 million occur for "social reasons" that have nothing to do with the sympathetic trio that is put forward by abortionists.