N.Y.: Fewer Abortions Overall, Still High

In New York City’s African-American community, more pregnancies ended in abortion than live births in 2012, and its 31,328 abortions—6,570 more than the 24,758 live births—represented a shocking 42.4 percent of all abortions, according to a report released on Feb. 21 by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Thirty-one percent of abortions occurred in the city’s Hispanic community. While the percentages of abortions occurring in the city’s African-American and Hispanic communities were high, far outstripping their general population figures, overall the city reported far fewer abortions in 2012 than in recent years. Fewer New York City women are having abortions now than at any time since the procedure became legal in the state in 1970. Though it remains double the national average, the abortion rate in New York dropped 8.6 percent from 2011 and has fallen 22 percent since 2000.