Factoid: Abortions by Race: Rates and Reasons

This is the number of abortions in America by race, going back to 1973, through 2004:

Abortions for Black and White Women, 1973-2004

Source: Black Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook 2009. Based on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

These numbers raise the question: why do black women have abortions at such a higher rate than white women?

The answer seems to be twofold: black women are more likely to have unintended pregnancies; and back women are more likely to feel they lack the maturity or resources to raise a child.

This chart, from the article Abortion and Women of Color: The Bigger Picture, shows the high correlation between the incidence of unintended pregnancies and abortions:

One comment I’ve heard on this subject is that, unfortunately, many pregnant black women use abortion as a kind of birth control. They never intended to have a child. But because they didn’t take effective steps to prevent the pregnancy on the “front end,” they wind up having to terminate the pregnancy on the back end.

Also of note, from the report Abortion and Women of Color: The Bigger Picture:

The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women). This is partly because the rate of unintended pregnancies among poor women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty* (112 vs. 29 per 1,000 women).