Abortion total for nation falls despite new drugs

The Associated Press

ATLANTA - The number of abortions in the United States fell in 1997 to the lowest level in two decades, despite new drugs that make it easier to terminate a pregnancy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday that 20 of every 1,000 women of reproductive age (15 to 44) had abortions in 1997, the same rate as the previous two years and the lowest since 1975.

The number of abortions for every 1,000 live births dropped from 314 in 1996 to 305 in 1997 - also a 25-year low, the CDC said.

The preliminary estimate of 1,184,758 legal abortions in 1997 was 3 percent less that the 1,221,585 abortions in 1996 and was the lowest number performed since 1978.

The CDC cited several factors for the decline, including reduced access to abortion, an increased willingness to use contraception and possibly different attitudes about the moral implications of abortion.

For the first time, the annual CDC report included a breakdown from some states of which abortions were performed with surgery and which with drugs. Previously, states had reported only the number of abortions.

In 1997, 16 states reported 2,988 drug-induced abortions. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization, estimated there were 4,300 drug-induced abortions in the United States during the first half of 1997 alone.

The drug most commonly used in the United States to induce abortion is methotrexate. It is used to treat certain types of gastrointestinal disorders and cancers, but doctors have been allowed to prescribe it to induce abortion since the mid-1990s.

Another drug, mifepristone, is designed specifically to end pregnancy and is expected to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration this year. It is available only through clinical trials. A similar drug used in Europe, RU-486, remains ensnared in political battles in this country.

The medications are touted as a way to make the procedure more private and convenient, without the need for surgery. Women take the medications under a doctor's supervision during the first 49 days of pregnancy.