page_title: Abortion
section_title: Personal and social factors for abortions
hierarchical_section_title: Abortion / Numbers and reasons for induced abortions / Personal and social factors for abortions
caption_attribution_description: Contents 1 Chart information 2 Summary 3 Chart information 4 Licensing 5 Original upload log Chart information This bar chart presents data from a 1998 AGI study on the motivating factors behind abortion around the world. Countries with the most complete sets of data are presented. Omissions reflect incomplete data. See the original study for more information. Source of data: Bankole, Akinrinola, Singh, Susheela, &amp; Haas, Taylor. (1998). Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries. International Family Planning Perspectives, 24 (3), 117-127 &amp; 152. Image created by: Severa
context_page_description: An abortion is when a pregnancy is ended early, without the natural birth of the child and before it is ready to survive outside of the uterus.
  A developing human usually takes about thirty-nine weeks to grow and be born. Normally, this occurs about forty weeks after the mother's last menstrual period. This developing human is called an embryo for the first eight weeks of the pregnancy, and fetus for the rest of the pregnancy.
  When an abortion occurs naturally, it is often called a miscarriage. Humans can also choose to end the pregnancy before birth takes place. This is called an induced abortion. Often, the term abortion often refers only to an induced abortion.
  In both types of abortion, the embryo or fetus usually comes out of the womb. This is called a complete abortion. In some cases, the embryo or fetus remains inside the womb. This is called a missed abortion. Surgery is needed to remove the embryo or fetus from the womb so the woman does not get an infection.
  Different countries have different laws regarding induced abortion.
context_section_description: In 1998, a study was done in 27 countries. This study wanted to find the reasons, why women wanted to end their pregnancy. It found that women often gave one of the following reasons:
  Worries about their work or their education.
  Not sure about how to pay for the child they were going to have.
  Worries about the stability of the relationship with their partner.
  Feeling that they were not yet mature enough to have a child.
  A different study, done in the United States in 2004 came to similar conclusions.
  Women who had an abortion in Finland and the United States usually did not state that the pregnancy posed a risk to their health. In Bangladesh, India and Kenya, however, more such women thought the pregnancy was a risk to their health. 1% of women in the 2004 survey-based U.S. study became pregnant as a result of rape and 0.5% as a result of incest. Another American study in 2002 concluded that 54% of women who had an abortion were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant. Inconsistent use was reported by 49% of those using condoms and 76% of those using the combined oral contraceptive pill; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage. The Guttmacher Institute estimated that "most abortions in the United States are obtained by minority women" because minority women "have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy."
  Some women have an abortion because the society they live in pressures them to.
  In certain parts of the world, disabled people have problems to fit into society.
  The sex of the child might influence the status of the mother; often, mothers who bear boys have a higher social status than those who bear girls.
  In many parts of the world, raising a child is a very difficult task for a single (unmarried) mother.
  Certain countries, like China have measures to control their population growth.
  Any of these factors might force a pregnant woman to have an abortion.
caption: A bar chart from a study done in 1998. In shows the reasons why women had an abortion
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