Annotated Bibliography
“CDCs Abortion Surveillance”. “CDCs Abortion Surveillance System FAQs.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Nov. 2020, www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm. Accessed 20 April 2021.
On the CDC website, abortion surveillance from 2009 to 2018 is reported. CDC’s surveillance system compiles information on legal induced abortions only. In addition, states and areas voluntarily report data to CDC for inclusion in this annual report. From 2009 to 2018, the number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 22%, 24%, and 16%, respectively. In 2017, the total number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased to historic lows for the period of analysis for all three measures. However, compared with 2017, in 2018, the total number and rate of reported abortions increased by 1%, and the abortion ratio increased by 2%. These statistics are useful to my project because it relates in which the percentage of women having abortions are decreasing.
Dastagir, Alia E. “Fewer Women Are Having Abortions. Why?” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 17 June 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/13/abortion-law-fewer-women-having-abortions-why/1424236001/. Accessed 20 April 2021.
In this article, it explains that fewer women are having abortions. Reasons for this have been pointed to better birth control and more of it. More effective forms of contraception such as intrauterine devices. In addition, Obamacare could also be a factor in the decline. The Affordable Care Act’s federal contraceptive coverage guarantee applies to most private health plans, requiring coverage for most contraceptives used by women without them having to pay for anything. The CDC states that providing free contraception to women would likely further reduce unwanted pregnancies and in turn abortion rates. Other factors for women having less abortions include a focus on comprehensive sex education and more restrictive laws around it making access difficult. This is useful for my project because it gives factors that contribute to abortion rates being lower.
Foster, Diana Greene. “Dramatic Decreases in US Abortion Rates: Public Health Achievement or Failure?” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, 8 Nov. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5678419/. Accessed 20 April 2021.
In this scholarly journal, it dives into the dramatic decreases in U.S. abortion rates. It states the reduction in abortion rates translates into a change in the projected lifetime prevalence of abortion from one in three women in the U.S. to one in four. Possible causes for the decreased abortion rate in the U.S. include use of better methods of contraception, better knowledge of fertile period, women choosing birth over abortion in cases of unwanted pregnancy, changes in desire for pregnancy and parenting, infertility, lower coital frequency, lack of access or money to get an abortion, women unable to comply with requirements for an abortion, and abortions occurring outside the medical system. Abortion is still common, demand may be decreasing, and many women are unable to access care. This is useful for my project because it describes different methods that account for women’s abortion rates declining in the U.S.
“Ngram Viewer”. “Google Books Ngram Viewer.” Google Books, Google, books.google.com/ngrams. Accessed 20 April 2021.
In this Ngram Viewer, typing in the word “abortion” it is evident that between the years 1500-2019, this word has appeared in printed sources from 1500 at 0.0006154957%. This is when the word “abortion” first and slightly peaked. In 1513, “abortion” completely declined to 0%. From 1601 to 1609, it peaked slightly again at 0.0000081201%. It declined back down to zero from 1610 to 1628. From 1629 to 1784 the percentage remained fairly low not reaching higher than 0.0001250809%. From 1785 to 1906 the percentage remained fairly low although it peaked a little around 1906 but then went back down. From 1907 to 1960, statistics continued to remain low being no higher than 0.0002620618%. From 1961 to 1978 there was a massive spike of the word “abortion” being at its highest spike going from 0.0002689329% to 0.0010629546%. This was the first surge as it kept increasing. It slightly declined from 1979 to 1983. From 1984 to 1994, it surged to its highest ever going from 0.0010338028% to 0.0012566607%. Finally, from 1995 to 2019, there has been a consistent decline where in 2019 it is at 0.0007837521%. {Ngram Viewer Settings: 1500-2019, English, Case-Insensitive, Smoothing of 4}
Thompson, Lauren Macivor. “Women Have Always Had Abortions.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Dec. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/13/opinion/sunday/abortion-history-women.html. Accessed 20 April 2021.
This article states that women over the course of American history of all classes, races, ages and statuses have ended their pregnancies, both before there were any laws about abortion and after a bunch of 19th-century laws restricted it. In the 17th and 18th centuries, abortion was legal under common law before “quickening,” or when the pregnant woman could feel the fetus move around 16 weeks. In addition, the birth rate steadily dropped in the decades after the American Revolution. During this time, couples sought to control the size of their families for a variety of reasons. Abortion in the early stages was common and generally not considered immoral or murderous. Abortion was considered back then what we now call “birth control.” By the 1820’s, abortion services and contraceptive devices were advertised in newspapers with coded language.
