Number of Abortions in Fla. Down by 20% in Recent Years, State Data Show

August 14, 2012 — The number of abortions performed in Florida decreased by 20% from 2006 through 2011, but the figure is on pace to rise by 6% this year, according to data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Health, the Palm Beach Post reports.

The number of abortions in Florida peaked in 2006 at 95,586, state data show. By comparison, the total for 2012 could reach 82,000 if the pace from the first half of the year continues.

Possible Explanations

Rachel Jones, senior researcher for the Guttmacher Institute, noted that many factors affect the number of abortions in a state, including laws, unintended pregnancy rates and the availability of providers.

"If it's because fewer women are having unintended pregnancies, that is a good thing," Jones said, adding that increased use of long-term contraceptives and more precautions by couples to avoid pregnancy, especially during the recession, are tied to decreases in abortions.

Meanwhile, abortion-rights opponents said the decline suggests that more women are reluctant to have the procedure, which they attributed to laws that make obtaining an abortion more cumbersome. Mary Balch, legislative director for National Right to Life, said Florida's ultrasound and parental notification laws have discouraged women from obtaining abortions -- an assertion that Jones disputed.

The state's population dynamics also could be tied to the decrease in abortions, according to Stefan Rayer, a demographer with the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Fewer people have moved to Florida in recent years, while the pace of people leaving the state has risen, he said. As part of that trend, the number of young people migrating to the state has declined, including women of childbearing age, Rayer noted (Maloney, Palm Beach Post, 8/13).