In the United States, about 6 million women become pregnant per year.²

Each year, nearly 1.2 million American women have an abortion to end a pregnancy.³

The most common reasons women consider abortion are:

• Birth control (contraceptive) failure. Over half of all women who have an abortion used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant.³
• Inability to support or care for a child.
• To end an unwanted pregnancy.
• To prevent the birth of a child with birth defects or severe medical problems. Such defects are often unknown until routine second-trimester tests are done.
• Pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.
• Physical or mental conditions that endanger the woman's health if the pregnancy is continued.

In the United States, 9 out of 10 abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks (first trimester) of pregnancy. Most of these are done within the first 9 weeks of pregnancy.³

Very few abortions are done after 16 weeks of pregnancy. But some women have to delay abortions because they have trouble with paying for, finding, or traveling to an abortion specialist.

Illegal abortion

Some states have legal restrictions on abortion. Many states require women to wait 24 hours or longer after a first informational appointment. Contact your closest Planned Parenthood or other family planning clinic for more information about restrictions in your state and neighboring states.

An abortion performed without professional medical care (illegally) has a much greater risk of complications than one performed legally with good medical care.

Teen pregnancy

About 30% of pregnant teens choose to have an abortion.⁴ About 60% of women under age 18 who have an abortion have a parent who knows of the abortion, and the majority of these parents support their daughters' decisions.⁴ (In the United States, some states require a parent's consent for women under the age of 18 before they can have an abortion. But in these states a minor has the right to seek a court order allowing an abortion without a parent's consent. For more information, contact your closest Planned Parenthood or other family planning clinic.)

The most common reasons that teens and young women choose to have an abortion include:⁴

• Awareness that they are not mature enough to have children.
• Knowledge that they are financially not able to support or care for children.
• Concern that having a baby would change their lives and compromise their (and a child's) future. Many young mothers don't ever manage to get the education and employment necessary to raise their children above the poverty line.