US Abortions Fall 5%, Biggest Drop in a Decade

US abortions fell 5% during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say. The decline, detailed today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.

Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation's highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi's. Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6% and the abortion rate has fallen 7%. (More abortion stories.)