The abortion rate has continued to decline over the last several years and decreased to its lowest level in about 30 years, according to a new report.
The number and rate of abortions recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fell to the lowest level in decades in 2013 when the count was last tallied in the recently released report.
The report cites data from 47 states. States of Maryland, California, and New Hampshire were not included.
The abortion rate fell by five percent between 2012 and 2013, while decline was observed in only 41 states over two consecutive years.
In 2013, the count of legal induced abortions stood at 664,435 in the states from where data was included for the study. But the total number of abortions in all 50 states in 2013 were estimated to be around 900,000.
The same year, 12.5 abortions were reported for every 1,000 women in the age group 15-44 years, and 200 abortions per 1,000 live births, according to the report.
Between 2004 and 2013, the abortion rate fell by 21 percent, and by as much as 40 percent since 1980.
The CDC report said that a majority of abortions (58 percent) were carried out by women in their 20s. Only 11.7 percent of the abortions were attributed to women and girls under 19.
The number and rates of abortion varied among different states. Mississippi with only one functional abortion clinic recorded the lowest number of abortions, only 3.6 per 1,000 women. New York was the state with the highest number of abortions, 24.3 per 1,000 women.
About 91.6 percent of the abortions were performed at or before 13 weeks' of gestation, 7.1 percent between 14-20 weeks, and some 1.3 percent at 21 weeks' or above.
As many as 60 percent of the women who chose abortion had given birth to at least one child, and 15 percent of the women were married.
