Responsible women choose abortion

The Guttmacher Institute has found that women choose abortion out of a sense of responsibility to their current and future children. More than 60% of women who have abortions are mothers with children and more than half of those have at least two children already.

“Among those women with children, the most commonly cited reason for choosing to have an abortion was the concern that having another child would compromise the care given to existing children,” said Rachel K. Jones, senior researcher with the Guttmacher Institute. “Women felt that they were already stretched thin financially, emotionally and physically—and they wanted to put the children they already had front and center. Two-thirds of women who gave this answer were at or below the poverty line and received little help from their partners.”

Through our toll-free Hotline and website, women from diverse backgrounds tell us about their abortion experiences every day. This latest study confirms something that we know to be true from these patient stories: women who have abortions are the same women who have children, just at different times in their lives.

The study is published in January's Journal of Family Issues.