Opinion

One in Four Women has NOT had an Abortion

When statistics become lies

Courtesy Libary of Congress, public domain

In a Mother’s Day sermon, I heard a pastor say that one out of every four women has undergone an abortion.

I was shocked, so I asked him for the source of the statistic.

He gave me a link to a 2017 American Journal of Public Health article that said:

If the 2014 age-specific abortion rates prevail, 24% of women aged 15 to 44 years in that year will have an abortion by age 45 years.

Let’s break that down.

If the 2014 age-specific abortion rates prevail (they haven’t prevailed, they’ve declined)

24% of women aged 15 to 44 years in that year (the women who were in that age range in 2014, not all women)

Will have an abortion by age 45 years (will have, not have had)

I pointed out that his statement was not only incorrect, it was based on out-of-date data, did not allow for the 20 percent drop in the abortion rate we saw 2011–2017, and was not a fact but a prediction for American women.