Marital Status

Among the 39 areas that reported by marital status for 2015, 14.3% of all women who obtained an abortion were married, and 85.7% were unmarried (Table 15). The abortion ratio was 41 abortions per 1,000 live births for married women and 373 abortions per 1,000 live births for unmarried women. Among the 30 reporting areas that provided these data for the relevant years of comparison (2006 versus 2015, 2006 versus 2010, 2011 versus 2015, and 2014 versus 2015), the percentage of abortions among unmarried women increased 3% from 2006 to 2015 (from 83.6% to 85.9%), with a larger increase from 2006 to 2010 (2%) than from 2011 to 2015 (<1%). Among unmarried women, the abortion ratio decreased 21% from 2006 to 2015 (from 415 to 327 abortions per 1,000 live births), with a larger decrease also occurring from 2011 to 2015 (14%) than from 2006 to 2010 (6%). Among married women, the abortion ratio decreased 31% from 2006 to 2015 (from 49 to 34 abortions per 1,000 live births), with a larger decrease occurring from 2011 to 2015 (19%) than from 2006 to 2010 (10%).