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Statistics Canada reported that there were 100,039
induced abortions performed on Canadian women in 2004. Data on induced
abortions performed on Canadian women in the United States is no longer
collected as of 2004. Manitoba did not report numbers for induced abortions
obtained in clinics in the province. The number of induced abortions recorded
for every 100 live births was 29.7% .
ANNUAL THERAPEUTIC ABORTIONS AND ABORTION RATES FOR CANADIAN WOMEN FROM 1970 - 2004 AS REPORTED BY STATISTICS CANADA AND THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH INFORMATION (CIHI)
| |
Number |
Rate per 100 live births |
| Year |
Hospital Events |
Clinic Events |
From U.S.A. |
Total |
Hospital Eevents |
Clinic events |
From U.S.A. |
Total |
| 1970 |
11,152 |
-- |
|
11,152 |
3.0 |
|
|
3.0 |
| 1971 |
30.923 |
-- |
6,309 |
37,232 |
8.5 |
|
1.7 |
10.2 |
| 1972 |
38,853 |
-- |
6,573 |
45,426 |
11.2 |
|
1.9 |
13.1 |
| 1973 |
43,201 |
|
5,501 |
48,702 |
12.6 |
|
1.6 |
14.2 |
| 1974 |
48,136 |
|
4,299 |
52,435 |
13.7 |
|
1.2 |
14.9 |
| 1975 |
49,311 |
|
4,394 |
53,705 |
13.7 |
|
1.2 |
14.9 |
| 1976 |
54,478 |
|
4,234 |
58,712 |
15.1 |
|
1.2 |
16.3 |
| 1977 |
57,564 |
|
2,300 |
59,864 |
15.9 |
|
0.5 |
16.5 |
| 1978 |
62,290 |
2,618 |
1,802 |
66,710 |
17.4 |
0.7 |
0.6 |
18.6 |
| 1979 |
65,043 |
3,629 |
1,073 |
69,745 |
17.8 |
1.0 |
0.3 |
19.1 |
| 1980 |
65,751 |
4,704 |
1,644 |
72,099 |
17.7 |
1.3 |
0.4 |
19.4 |
| 1981 |
65,053 |
4,207 |
2,651 |
71,911 |
17.5 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
19.3 |
| 1982 |
66,254 |
4,506 |
4,311 |
75,071 |
17.8 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
20.2 |
| 1983 |
61,750 |
3,635 |
3,983 |
69,368 |
16.5 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
18.6 |
| 1984 |
62,247 |
3,571 |
3,631 |
69,449 |
16.5 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
18.4 |
| 1985 |
62,712 |
3,706 |
2,798 |
69,216 |
16.7 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
18.4 |
| 1986 |
63,462 |
3,498 |
2,612 |
69,572 |
17.0 |
0.9 |
0.7 |
18.6 |
| 1987 |
63,585 |
3,681 |
2,757 |
70,023 |
17.2 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
18.9 |
| 1988 |
66,137 |
4,617 |
1,939 |
72,693 |
17.6 |
1.2 |
0.5 |
119.3 |
| 1989 |
70,705 |
7,059 |
1,551 |
79,315 |
18.0 |
1.8 |
0.4 |
20.2 |
| 1990 |
71,092 |
20,236 |
1,573 |
92,901 |
17.5 |
5.0 |
0.4 |
22.9 |
| 1991 |
70,277 |
23,343 |
1,439 |
95,059 |
17.5 |
5.8 |
0.3 |
23.6 |
| 1992 |
70,408 |
31,151 |
526 |
102,085 |
17.7 |
7.8 |
0.1 |
25.6 |
| 1993 |
72,434 |
31,508 |
461 |
104,403 |
18.7 |
8.1 |
0.1 |
26.9 |
| 1994 |
71,630 |
34,287 |
338 |
106,255 |
18.6 |
8.9 |
0.1 |
27.6 |
| 1995 |
70,549 |
35,650 |
459 |
106,658 |
18.7 |
9.4 |
0.1 |
28.6(revised) |
| 1996 |
74,555 |
36,803 |
301 |
111,659 |
|
|
|
30.5 (revised) |
| 1997 |
71,795 |
39,621 |
293 |
111,709 |
|
|
|
32.0
(revised) |
| 1998 |
68,273 |
41,761 |
297 |
110,331 |
|
|
|
32.2 (revised) |
| 1999 |
63,815 |
41,620 |
231 |
105,666 |
|
|
|
31.3
(revised) |
| 2000 |
63,507 |
41,705 |
215 |
105,427 |
|
|
|
32.2 (revised) |
| 2001 |
61,227 |
45,016 |
175 |
106,418 |
|
|
|
31.9 |
| 2002 |
58254 |
46,748 |
152 |
105,154 |
|
|
|
32.1 |
| 2003 |
56,089 |
47,530 |
149 |
103,768 |
|
|
|
31.0 |
| 2004 |
53,670 |
46,369 |
-** |
100,039 |
|
|
|
29.7 |
*Induced abortions were
classified as therapeutic beginning in 1969 when the first survey, the
collection of legally induced abortion data was taken. Statistics Canada says “the term
‘therapeutic’ remains in the title of the survey for the sake of historical consistency”. Since 1970 abortion figures have been
compiled for hospital abortions. In 1978 Quebec began to report some figures for clinic abortions. In 1990 the clinic figures reported
related to Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and British
Columbia. In 1991 published clinic
data included figures reported from Alberta. In 1994 clinic data included figures from New Brunswick.
Starting in 1995, therapeutic
abortion data were collected from reporting areas within and outside the
country by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).. The data
once collected is then transferred to Statistics Canada for analysis and
publication. The Induced
Abortions Statistics 2004 publication is available as catalogue number
82-223-XIE. ** In 2004, data for induced abortions performed on Canadian
women in American states were not collected.
Note: As of 1999, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long
Term Care no longer maintains a system for the collection of detailed
information on abortions performed in Ontario clinics but , instead uses the
billing system of the Ontario Health
Insurance Plan (OHIP) to provide counts of clinic abortions to the Therapeutic Abortion Survey. This means that information is no longer
available for clinic abortions performed on non-residents of Ontario or on
Ontario residents who do not submit a claim to OHIP.
The total of 100,763
induced abortions reported in the Statistics Canada tables for 2004 on their
website includes abortions performed on non-Canadian residents: the number
100,039 is for abortions performed
on Canadian women only.
In 2004, Manitoba figures include only abortions performed
in hospitals, no numbers were reported for clinics.
It
is becoming increasingly difficult to formulate a complete profile of the women
who undergo the abortion procedure because of incomplete and missing
demographic and medical case data.
Statistics Canada and the
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report a total of 100,763 abortions
for 2004. There are records in the
database for 100,039 abortions and total detailed records for only 42,880
hospital and clinic abortions combined. Consequently, the percentage
distribution of selected characteristics such as gestational age of the child, age of the mother, number of previous
abortions, any immediate complications, etc. is based only on the total
detailed records available.
CLINICS: The total number of clinic abortions
reported in 2004 was 47,005 and these clinic abortions accounted for 46% of all
abortions performed in 2004. Only
one province (Alberta) provided detailed records for 6,125 clinic abortions
(13% of the 46,369 clinic abortions recorded in the database). Ontario accounts for 34% of all
abortions reported in Canada.
HOSPITALS: Canadian
hospitals reported 53,758 induced abortions in 2004 and of the 53,670 listed in
the database, detailed records are available for only 36,755. Nineteen years ago in 1988, hospitals
reported 66,137 abortions and case items were missing for 5,484 of these cases
(8%). Hospitals in Québec no longer fully report items such as: age of the
mother, previous deliveries,
number of previous abortions, gestational age of the child at the time of
abortion, nature of the abortion procedure, complications etc.
Overall, using combined hospital and clinic figures,
we learn that selected demographic and medical information is now available for
only 43% of the 100,039 induced abortions performed on Canadian women in 2004.
From the incomplete data obtained by CIHI, Statistics
Canada, Health Statistics Division reported that in 2004:
- 53.9% of the women having clinic and hospital
abortions were between 20 to 29 years of age and 24.6% were 30-39 years of age at
the time of their abortion. **
- Almost
47% of induced abortions were performed in clinics (47,005).
- 53% of induced abortions were performed in hospitals
(53,758).
- 30.8 % of the women had undergone at least one previous
abortion.**
- 16.8 % of women
having clinic and hospital abortions were between 10 and 19 years of age.**
- Marital status at the time of the abortion procedure is
no longer listed in the Selected
Demographics and Medical Statistics tables of Statistics Canada.
- 41.7% of women undergoing an abortion in Canada had no
other children.**
- Perhaps the most startling statistic is that women
who have had previous deliveries account for a growing proportion of abortions: 42.5 % in 2004.**
**These combined figures are taken from detailed records
in the database for abortions done in 2004 in Canadian clinics and hospitals.
These figures represent only 43% of the total records in the database(100,039)
falling short of the information necessary to provide an accurate profiling of
the 100,763 women who had abortions in 2004. There is no data for abortions done in the U.S.
Percentage of abortions by
selected characteristics
| |
Hospital Abortions |
++Clinc Abortions |
Hostipal and Clinic Abortions |
| Total records in
Database |
53,670 |
43.369 |
100,039 |
| Total Detailed
Records |
36,755 |
6,125 |
42,880 |
| (basis for percentage distribution) |
% distribution |
% distribution |
% distribution |
| Gestation Period |
|
|
|
| Under 9 weeks |
30.2 |
47.3 |
32.7 |
| 9-12 weeks |
42.9 |
36.2 |
42.0 |
| 13 - 16 weeks |
6.6 |
11.4 |
7.3 |
| Over 16 weeks |
4.0 |
4.9 |
4.1 |
| Unknown |
16.3 |
0.1 |
14.0 |
Database includes abortions
performed in Canada on Canadian residents only. Only Alberta clinics responded.
N.B.: Percentage distribution is based on detailed records only.
n an effort to put a human face on the
percentages quoted in the table, consider the combined known figures for abortions performed in hospitals and clinics at 9-12 weeks
gestation . At 42% distribution this represents at least 18,009 babies dead by
clinic and hospital abortions.
COMPLICATIONS: First, second and third immediate
complications only are reported in the survey (hemorrhage, infection, pelvic damage, retained products of
conception, death or ‘other’). At least 626 women were reported to have
sustained complications: of these, 308 women had “retained products of
conception”.
The provinces with the highest number of abortions are:
Ontario (35,238), Québec (30,558),
British Columbia (14,738), Alberta (11,283).
HISTORICAL NOTES:
Before 1969 the law permitted abortion only when
necessary to preserve the life of the mother. The
law was amended on May 14, 1969 to allow abortion in cases where “the continuation of the pregnancy...would be likely to
endanger the life or health of the mother”. The word “health” was never defined. Abortions were to be performed in
accredited hospitals with the approval of a therapeutic abortion committee of 3
doctors. On January 28, 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada struck
down the 1969 law, (Section 251 of the Criminal Code) for procedural reasons
related to Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There is no cut-off point in
pregnancy after which abortions may
not be performed. This means
that the child in the womb can be aborted in hospitals and clinics at any time,
by any means, for any reason, right up to and during birth with impunity.
- Pregnancy
is not a disease; however, abortion
is a frequently performed surgical procedure in Canada.
- Abortion is elective surgery,
which does not cure any medical condition.
- The
leading cause of death in Canada is induced abortion...100,039 babies dead by
induced abortion in 2004.
BETWEEN
1970 AND 2004 CANADA HAS SANCTIONED THE DEATHS OF 2,792,352 BABIES AWAITING BIRTH.
For further information on
induced abortion statistics, please contact Action Life (Ottawa) Inc at 309-376 Churchill Avenue
North, Ottawa, ON K1Z3C5. Ph. 1-613-798-494, Fax 1-613-798-4496
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