Abortions in the U.S.: Who Has Them?: Background information when reading Mercy Street

Abortions in the U.S.: Who Has Them?

This article relates to Mercy Street

Jennifer Haigh's novel, Mercy Street, centers around a clinic that provides women's health care services, including abortion.

As most know, it is already difficult to gain access to legal abortion services in many parts of the United States; but legislation to outlaw access is now gaining traction, both by the Supreme Court and in many conservative states. However, some might not be aware that abortion was unregulated in the U.S. until the mid-1800s. According to Planned Parenthood, before this time, "Common law allowed for abortion prior to 'quickening' – an archaic term for fetal movement that usually happens after around four months of pregnancy." Medical literature of the day regularly discussed abortion methods, focusing on herbal remedies (surgical intervention was rare at the time, and dangerous). Care was often provided by midwives, and men generally stayed out of women's gynecological practices. This began to change after the Civil War, and by 1910 abortion was banned nationally. The procedure was once again legalized in 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that restrictive state laws against abortion were unconstitutional in Roe v. Wade, a decision the Court is currently revisiting.

Today, nearly half of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the United States each year are considered unintended. Of those, at least 629,000 end in abortion, although the statistic is based on providers voluntarily submitting data and it's believed the number may be as high as 886,000. The number of annual abortions, which equates to 13.5 per 1,000 U.S. women (ages 15-44), has been falling in recent years, and is substantially lower than at its peak in 1980 when the total was closer to 30 per 1,000.

A December 2021 New York Times article states that the "typical" person seeking an abortion:

• Is already a parent to one or more children — 60%. Half the patients have two or more children, and one of the main reasons people give for seeking out an abortion is to be a better parent to the kids they already have.
• Is in their 20s — Nearly 60% of abortion-seekers are in this age bracket, with just 9% younger than 20.
• Has attended or graduated from college — 64%. Nine percent did not finish high school, and 27% are high school graduates who did not attend college.
• Has a low income — Almost half of the people obtaining abortions live below the poverty line. In fact, financial constraints are the number one reason people give for needing to end their pregnancy.
• Has never been married — 46%.
• Is in their first trimester of pregnancy — The vast majority — 92% — of people obtaining abortions seek them within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. Most later abortions are because of the likelihood of serious health complications. Roe v. Wade allows abortion before fetal viability, which occurs around 23 weeks.
• Is having their first abortion — 58%.
• Lives in a "blue" state — 68% of those having the procedure live in a state that leans Democratic. That means around a third of abortions are performed in the 22 states that are likely to ban the procedure if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Planned Parenthood sign, courtesy of Planned Parenthood

Filed under Society and Politics

This "beyond the book article" relates to Mercy Street. It originally ran in June 2022 and has been updated for the February 2023 paperback edition. Go to magazine.