Race, Poverty and Abortion

How are the number of annual abortions in the United States distributed by race? And how does that compare to the distribution of the potential child-bearing (Age 15-44) population of the United States by race? Or for that matter, how does that compare to the racial distribution of the poor in the United States, as measured by enrollment of the non-elderly in Medicaid?

Our chart below provides the demographic snapshot of what we found in answering each question asked above, for the years spanning 2008 through 2010:

Data Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Abortion Surveillance – United States 2008. Table 21. Reported Abortions, by Known Race/Ethnicity, Age Group, and Marital Status of Women Who Obtained an Abortion — Selected States, United States, 2008. 60(SS15);1-41. 25 November 2011.

Kaiser Family Foundation. Distribution of the Nonelderly with Medicaid by Race/Ethnicity, States (2009-2010), U.S. (2010).

U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2012. Table 10. Resident Population by Race, Hispanic Origin, and Age: 2000 and 2009.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2009 Population Estimates. T4-2009: Hispanic or Latino by Race.

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