America’s abortion rate drops to its lowest level in four decades

DESPITE the culture wars that bedevil America, the abortion rate has steadily fallen for years. It is now back to where it was in 1973—when Nixon was in office and Cher was queen of the pop charts. It was also the year that the right to a legal abortion was enshrined by the Supreme Court ruling, Roe v Wade. The rate immediately rose but has been declining since 1981 and stood at 16.9 per 1,000 women in 2011 (around 1m abortions a year), according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice think-tank. Why the decline, particularly in recent years? States implemented 44 laws to restrict abortion between 2008 and 2010, but this does not seem to have been the cause. The birth rate also fell between 2008 and 2011, by 9%—similar to the 13% drop in abortion. The report’s authors suggest other explanations, such as better contraception. A higher proportion of teenagers (who account for a fifth of abortions) are taking precautions, and women are increasingly using more reliable forms of contraception, such as IUDs. All this suggests that the abortion rate is falling, not necessarily because of bombast from America’s cultural warriors, but because fewer women are becoming pregnant unintentionally.