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Characteristics of U.S. Abortion Patients, 2008
*In 2008, the majority of women obtaining abortions (58%) were in their 20s; women in their 30s made up the second largest age group (22%)
*Non-Hispanic, white women accounted for 36%, Hispanic women for 25%, and non-Hispanic women of other races for 9%. While no group made up the majority of abortion patients, black and Hispanic women were overrepresented.
*The overwhelming majority of women having abortions (85%) were unmarried, including 29% who were cohabiting. Among never-married women obtaining abortions, almost one-half had been in a relationship for a year or longer with the man who had made them pregnant.
*Women obtaining abortions in 2008 were less likely than their counterparts in 2000 to be married or to have a religious affiliation and were more likely than the earlier cohort to have a college degree. These paterns largely reflect changes in the population of all women of reproductive age.
Rachel K. Jones, Lawrence B. Finer and Susheela Singh. "Characteristics of U.S. Abortion Patients, 2008." Guttmacher Institute. <http://guttmacher.org/pubs/US-Abortion-Patients.pdf> (accessed 5 February, 2011)
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