US Abortions Rising as Court Prepares to Issue Ruling
2022-06-16
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1A new report says the number and rate of abortions in the United States increased from 2017 to 2020, after a long period of decline.
2An abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy.
3The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that supports abortion rights.
4It released its latest report about abortions in the United States on Wednesday.
5The researchers counted more than 930,000 abortions in the nation in 2020.
6That is up from about 862,000 abortions in 2017.
7That was when national abortion numbers reached their lowest point since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.
8About one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, the report found.
9The report's release comes as the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn its 1973 ruling.
10The number of women seeking abortions demonstrates a need for the procedure, said Sara Rosenbaum.
11She is a health law and policy professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
12She added that the report shows "how devastating a Supreme Court decision is going to be for access to an absolutely vital service."
13Medication abortions, sometimes called the "abortion pill," accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2020.
14That was the first time they made up more than half of abortions, Guttmacher said in its report.
15The COVID-19 pandemic may have pushed down the numbers in some states, the report said.
16In New York, abortions increased from 2017 to 2019, then fell 6 percent between 2019 and 2020.
17One in 10 clinics in New York suspended or stopped abortion care in 2020.
18Texas saw a 2 percent decrease between 2019 and 2020, because of pandemic-related abortion restrictions in the state.
19Experts say the pandemic may also have limited the availability of birth control and other forms of contraception.
20It also may have prevented women from attending all the health care visits involved in a pregnancy.
21But abortions already were increasing before the pandemic began.
22One important factor is that some states expanded Medicaid access to abortion.
23Medicaid is a government program that provides health care to people in need.
24Illinois, for example, began permitting state Medicaid money to pay for abortions starting in January 2018.
25The state saw abortions increase 25 percent between 2017 and 2020.
26In neighboring Missouri, abortions dropped sharply.
27But the number of Missouri residents traveling to Illinois for abortions increased.
28Carol Tobias is president of the National Right to Life Committee, which opposes abortion.
29She said, "If states are paying for abortions I hope they are also looking at how to support childbirth, so a woman doesn't think abortion is the best or only option."
30Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every three years.
31Its numbers are considered more complete than data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
32The CDC does not include several states like California, the nation's most populous state.
33In 2020, fewer women were getting pregnant and a larger amount of them chose abortion, the researchers found.
34The abortion rate in 2020 was 14.4 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44.
35That is an increase from 13.5 per 1,000 women in 2017.
36I'm Dan Novak.
1A new report says the number and rate of abortions in the United States increased from 2017 to 2020, after a long period of decline. An abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy. 2The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that supports abortion rights. It released its latest report about abortions in the United States on Wednesday. 3The researchers counted more than 930,000 abortions in the nation in 2020. That is up from about 862,000 abortions in 2017. That was when national abortion numbers reached their lowest point since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. 4About one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, the report found. The report's release comes as the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn its 1973 ruling. 5The number of women seeking abortions demonstrates a need for the procedure, said Sara Rosenbaum. She is a health law and policy professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She added that the report shows "how devastating a Supreme Court decision is going to be for access to an absolutely vital service." 6Medication abortions, sometimes called the "abortion pill," accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2020. That was the first time they made up more than half of abortions, Guttmacher said in its report. 7The COVID-19 pandemic may have pushed down the numbers in some states, the report said. In New York, abortions increased from 2017 to 2019, then fell 6 percent between 2019 and 2020. One in 10 clinics in New York suspended or stopped abortion care in 2020. 8Texas saw a 2 percent decrease between 2019 and 2020, because of pandemic-related abortion restrictions in the state. 9Experts say the pandemic may also have limited the availability of birth control and other forms of contraception. It also may have prevented women from attending all the health care visits involved in a pregnancy. 10But abortions already were increasing before the pandemic began. One important factor is that some states expanded Medicaid access to abortion. Medicaid is a government program that provides health care to people in need. 11Illinois, for example, began permitting state Medicaid money to pay for abortions starting in January 2018. The state saw abortions increase 25 percent between 2017 and 2020. 12In neighboring Missouri, abortions dropped sharply. But the number of Missouri residents traveling to Illinois for abortions increased. 13Carol Tobias is president of the National Right to Life Committee, which opposes abortion. She said, "If states are paying for abortions I hope they are also looking at how to support childbirth, so a woman doesn't think abortion is the best or only option." 14Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every three years. Its numbers are considered more complete than data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC does not include several states like California, the nation's most populous state. 15In 2020, fewer women were getting pregnant and a larger amount of them chose abortion, the researchers found. 16The abortion rate in 2020 was 14.4 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. That is an increase from 13.5 per 1,000 women in 2017. 17I'm Dan Novak. 18Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press. 19________________________________________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21devastating - adj. causing great damage or harm 22vital - adj. extremely important 23contraception - n. things that are done to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant 24resident - n. someone who lives in a particular place 25survey - n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something