Wait On That Abortion

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Here are some unbiased sources for general stats on who is getting abortions and their reasons why (note: though it doesn't say so, we can safely assume 100 % of the people choosing induced abortion are female):

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

And on pregnancy rates in young women:

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf

So, the way I read that, the pregnancy rate dropped to an all time low among 15-19 yr olds in 2005 but raised a bit in 2006. Glad I prefaced my remarks by admitting it was based on my limited experience, guess I need to get out more to see a larger sample...just seems like there are so many young mothers.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

So, the way I read that, the pregnancy rate dropped to an all time low among 15-19 yr olds in 2005 but raised a bit in 2006. Glad I prefaced my remarks by admitting it was based on my limited experience, guess I need to get out more to see a larger sample...just seems like there are so many young mothers.

Much as I love Twain's famous quote about Disraeli calling the three kinds of lies, "Lies, damn lies and statistics" it is actually an important math and one I wish more Americans, myself included, understood better, because it would be less easy for the media to get away with distorting findings.

The Guttmacher report also notes that while they cite abortion rates jumping considerably after 1973, that they only counted legal abortions in the years prior, as, I assume, there was no way to accurately count illegal ones. Duh, but I appreciate them saying it.