Michigan's Face of Abortion

Information of abortions performed in Michigan in 2003

Article
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, a total of 29,540 induced abortions were reported in Michigan in 2003, which was a 1.1 percent increase from the total of 29,231 reported in 2002 and a 39.8 percent decrease since 1987, the year with the largest number of induced abortions.

In 2003, 48.6 percent of the resident women obtaining abortions had at least one previous induced abortions. In general, from 1985 through 2003, a gradual increase has been observed with the proportion of women reporting two or more induced abortions (from 14.6 percent in 1985 to 22.8 percent in 2003), while the proportion of women who had no previous induced abortion is decreasing (from 59.5 percent in 1985 to 51.4 percent in 2003).

The majority of Michigan residents receiving induced abortions, 50.4 percent, were under 25 years of age, while 17.6 percent were less than 20 years old. These are smaller proportions than the 64.6 and 30.6 percent observed, respectively, in 1985. Since 1990, the abortion rate for minors has fallen 53.6 percent. The Parental Consent law has had a positive impact on Michigan’s teens.

In 2003, 84.6 percent of the Michigan women who obtained an induced abortion were not married, similar to the 84.7 percent reported in 2002.

More than half, 61.8 percent down from 63.3 percent in 2002, of the resident women obtaining induced abortions in 2003 had a previous term pregnancy. Of the women who had a previous term pregnancy, more than one‑half in 2003 had at least two or more term pregnancies.

The Michigan abortion data reported for 2003 included for the first time information based on the race of the women. The most striking and tragic data shows that abortions among Black women are terribly disproportionate given their percentage of the female population. In Michigan, Black women represent 15.7 percent of the female population age 15 to 44, yet they obtain 38.2 percent of all abortions. There were 10,911 abortions performed on Black women in Michigan last year.

Women residing in the city of Detroit obtained 6,269 abortions in 2003. This number represents 22 percent of abortions performed on women from Michigan even though the city of Detroit has less than 10 percent of Michigan’s population.

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