U.S. abortions continue to decline

ATLANTA (AP) -- The number of abortions in the United States fell in 1997 to the lowest level in two decades, despite new drugs that<br>make it easier to terminate a pregnancy.<br><br>The Centers for Disease

Thursday, January 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) -- 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 Thursday 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 the lowest since 1975, the CDC said.

The preliminary estimate of 1,184,758 legal abortions in 1997 was 3 percent less than 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 total number of abortions.

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

The drug most commonly used in the United States to induce abortion is methotrexate.

Methotrexate 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.

Those on both sides of the debate said the medications are unlikely to affect the overall numbers of abortions but might shift the method away from surgery.

"I don't think it will have any effect whatsoever on rates of abortion or rates of unintended pregnancy," said Gloria Feldt,
president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

April Thompson, a spokeswoman for the National Right to Life Committee, said: "It's just another method of taking the life of
an unborn child. It will not change the debate and it will not change the number of abortions."

The CDC said that 52 percent of the women who received an abortion in 1997 were 24 or younger. Most of the women were white
and unmarried. Fifty-five percent of the procedures were done in the first two months of pregnancy.
Final 1997 figures -- the most recent year for which such numbers are available -- including the numbers of abortions in each state, will be released in the summer.