Last updated: Friday January 18, 2008, EST 9:46 AM
New Jersey has the second- highest rate of abortion in the nation, surpassed only by New York, according to a study to be released today.
About 34 abortions were performed in New Jersey in 2005 for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, compared with a national rate of 19, the Alan Guttmacher Institute reported. That translates to 61,150 abortions in New Jersey and 1.21 million across the nation.
The survey of abortion providers, which has been conducted every few years for decades, is widely viewed as the most complete study of the incidence of abortion in the country. New Jersey ranked second in Guttmacher's last survey, in 2000, as well.
What accounts for the state's high figures?
"It's probably a number of factors," said Rachel Jones, lead author of the study. "A lot of women from Pennsylvania and Delaware go to New Jersey and New York to have their abortions because their home states have more barriers. New Jersey is also densely populated, and there are more services available there. And the other thing is that Medicaid pays for those abortions in New Jersey." It's one of 17 states to allow Medicaid funds to cover abortion.
The data, collected in 2005, involved information from 1,787 abortion facilities in the country.
Nationwide, the number of abortions declined from an all-time high of 1.61 million in 1990 to 1.21 million in 2005, the lowest since 1976.
Researchers attribute the national decline to improved access to and use of contraceptives, and some decreased access to abortion services.
In New Jersey, however, the number of sites providing abortion -- as well as the number of abortions performed -- has remained fairly steady over the past several years, hovering at about 85 facilities.
"The whole thing is a tragedy," said John Tomicki, head of the anti-abortion League of American Families. "Each person's death diminishes us. These numbers show the crying need for the Legislature to enact a parental-notification constitutional amendment, because in states that have parental notification, not only do abortion rates drop, but so do pregnancy rates."
Frank Capece, an attorney for the state's largest abortion provider, Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, said Wednesday that he hadn't seen the study and declined to comment on it.
While New Jersey's abortion rate is comparatively high, its birth rate is relatively low. There were 63.8 births for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2005. Overall, 113,700 babies were born in the Garden State that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The study by Guttmacher, an organization that supports abortion rights, is the first broad look at the use of chemically induced abortion, most often involving the drug mifepristone. Known as RU-486, the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in September 2000 for the first 63 days of pregnancy.
The study found that more than half of abortion providers in the country now offer an abortion-inducing pill or shot. It also found that some doctors who didn't previously perform abortions now offer RU-486.
No state-specific data is available on the use of RU-486, but across the country, it appears that 22 percent of abortions conducted before nine weeks' gestation are chemically induced, not surgical.
The shift does not mean that abortion is necessarily more accessible to women in underserved areas, because most doctors who offer only chemically induced abortion are typically near facilities that offer surgical abortions.
Staff Writer William Lamb contributed to this article. E-mail: padawer@northjersey.com
New Jersey has the second- highest rate of abortion in the nation, surpassed only by New York, according to a study to be released today.
About 34 abortions were performed in New Jersey in 2005 for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, compared with a national rate of 19, the Alan Guttmacher Institute reported. That translates to 61,150 abortions in New Jersey and 1.21 million across the nation.
The survey of abortion providers, which has been conducted every few years for decades, is widely viewed as the most complete study of the incidence of abortion in the country. New Jersey ranked second in Guttmacher's last survey, in 2000, as well.
What accounts for the state's high figures?
"It's probably a number of factors," said Rachel Jones, lead author of the study. "A lot of women from Pennsylvania and Delaware go to New Jersey and New York to have their abortions because their home states have more barriers. New Jersey is also densely populated, and there are more services available there. And the other thing is that Medicaid pays for those abortions in New Jersey." It's one of 17 states to allow Medicaid funds to cover abortion.
The data, collected in 2005, involved information from 1,787 abortion facilities in the country.
Nationwide, the number of abortions declined from an all-time high of 1.61 million in 1990 to 1.21 million in 2005, the lowest since 1976.
Researchers attribute the national decline to improved access to and use of contraceptives, and some decreased access to abortion services.
In New Jersey, however, the number of sites providing abortion -- as well as the number of abortions performed -- has remained fairly steady over the past several years, hovering at about 85 facilities.
"The whole thing is a tragedy," said John Tomicki, head of the anti-abortion League of American Families. "Each person's death diminishes us. These numbers show the crying need for the Legislature to enact a parental-notification constitutional amendment, because in states that have parental notification, not only do abortion rates drop, but so do pregnancy rates."
Frank Capece, an attorney for the state's largest abortion provider, Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, said Wednesday that he hadn't seen the study and declined to comment on it.
While New Jersey's abortion rate is comparatively high, its birth rate is relatively low. There were 63.8 births for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2005. Overall, 113,700 babies were born in the Garden State that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The study by Guttmacher, an organization that supports abortion rights, is the first broad look at the use of chemically induced abortion, most often involving the drug mifepristone. Known as RU-486, the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in September 2000 for the first 63 days of pregnancy.
The study found that more than half of abortion providers in the country now offer an abortion-inducing pill or shot. It also found that some doctors who didn't previously perform abortions now offer RU-486.
No state-specific data is available on the use of RU-486, but across the country, it appears that 22 percent of abortions conducted before nine weeks' gestation are chemically induced, not surgical.
The shift does not mean that abortion is necessarily more accessible to women in underserved areas, because most doctors who offer only chemically induced abortion are typically near facilities that offer surgical abortions.
Staff Writer William Lamb contributed to this article. E-mail: padawer@northjersey.com
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