If a woman is more than eight weeks along, her only option is to have a surgical abortion. During a surgical abortion, the fetus is removed from the uterus before it has the ability to live outside the womb. It is one of the safest procedures done today. Less than 1% of woman who have had abortions have major complications after the surgery (prochoice.org).
Every year about 6 million women get pregnant and only half of those are intended. The other 50% that aren't intended and half of those, about 1.5 million, end in abortion. Based on statistics, if the rates of pregnancy and abortion continue, then almost half of women in the United States will have had an abortion before the age of 45 (prochoice.org). .
The women who have abortions are usually between the ages of 16 to 34. The majority (89%) of abortions are done in the first trimester, and fewer then 1% are done between the twenty-first week and twenty-third week (Facts). Most abortion patients are unmarried and the women represent almost every religious affiliation. In a survey taken by women who have had abortions, 70% plan to have children later in life, when they are financially and emotionally stable. Also, most people believe that a woman feels guilty and ashamed afterwards, but relief is usually the most common emotion (prochoice.org).
In the case of teenagers, abortion is extremely difficult to obtain on demand. One million teens get pregnant each year, but only 35% have an abortion. In some states, there are laws that say a minor must have permission of at least one parent, sometimes both parents, to go through with the abortion. These laws try to make teen girls communicate with their parents, but usually they only worsen the situation. For example, if a young woman gets pregnant and feels that she cannot tell her parents, she must go through a "judicial bypass" to override the consent of her parents, and have the court decide if she is mature enough to make her own decision.
