The following information is from the Allen Guttmacher survey of abortions in the United States. For the information in its entirety, contact them at 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005.

• 49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; 1/2 of these are terminated by abortion.
• In 1996, 1.37 million abortions took place, down from an estimated 1.61 million in 1990. From 1973 through 1996, more than 34 million legal abortions occurred.
• Each year, 2 out of every 100 women aged 15–44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion and 55% have had a previous birth.
• An estimated 43% of women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old.
• 52% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20–24 obtain 32% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 20%.
• On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.
• About 14,000 women have abortions each year because they became pregnant after rape or incest.
• 93% of U.S. abortions are performed in clinics or doctors' offices.
• The number of abortion providers declined by 14% between 1992 and 1996 (from 2,380 to 2,042).
• In 1993, the cost of a non-hospital abortion at 10 weeks ranged from $140 to more than $1,700, and the average amount paid was $296.
• WHEN WOMEN HAVE ABORTIONS: 6 weeks or less : 16%; 7-8 weeks: 38%; 9-10 weeks: 23%; 11-12 weeks: 11%; 13-15 weeks: 7%; 16-20 weeks: 4%; 21 weeks or more: 1%
• The most common restrictions in effect are parental involvement requirements, mandatory counseling and waiting periods, and limitations on public funding.
• 30 states currently enforce parental consent or notification laws for minors seeking an abortion: AL, AR, CO, DE, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, WI, WV, and WY. The Supreme Court ruled that in states that require parental involvement, minors must have the alternative of seeking a court order authorizing the procedure.

Here are a few more miscellaneous facts concerning the abortion issue. This information and much more like it can be found in The Abortion Question by Rodman, Sarvis and Bonar.

• By the end of the first three months of pregnancy the fetus is seen to have human-like features, recognizable bone and cartilage, simple reflexes and often a detectable heartbeat.
• Most fetuses are viable by 24 weeks.
• In 1965, 8 years prior to Roe v. Wade, there were 235 abortion-related deaths in the United States. By 1976, 3 years after Roe, there were only 27 such deaths.
• 1/3 of all fertilized ova are aborted spontaneously because they are defective.