Women Who Have Had Abortions Cite the Following Reasons
| 21% |
can't afford a baby |
| 21% |
are unready for responsibility |
| 16% |
concerned about how having a baby could change their lives |
| 12% |
have problems with relationship or want to avoid single parenthood |
| 11% |
are not mature enough/are too young to have children |
| 8% |
have all the children they want/have all grown-up children |
| 3% |
possible fetal health problem |
| 3% |
maternal health problem |
| 1% |
pregnancy resulted from rape or incest |
| 1% |
husband/partner wants them to have abortion |
| 1% |
dont want others to know they had sex or are pregnant |
Sources: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, "Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries" Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 24 (August 1998). The Alan Guttmacher Institute, "U.S. Women Who Obtain Abortions: Who and Why?" Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 4, (July/August 1988).