Abortion down in the U.S.

Abortion rates are the lowest they’ve been in 30 years. This is according to a report that will soon be published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. The most recent figures being those for 2005 showed that there were 1.2 million abortions performed that year.

Another finding is that medical abortions using the drug RU-486 are becoming more common. 60% of the abortions were done before the 8th week of pregnancy, while 30% were done before the 6th week.

Naturally, the findings have generated some hot debate.

Those in favour of abstinence say that the fall in the number of teenagers having abortions shows that abstinence programs work. Meanwhile, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation says that this shows tht their own programs are effective in reducing the numbers. As usual, we’ll have to do wait for some more answers.