Induced (therapeutic) abortions
2000
Canadian women obtained 105,427 abortions in 2000, a
slight decrease of 0.2% from 105,666 in 1999. The
rate of abortion remained steady at 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women
in both 1999 and 2000.
The ratio of the number of induced abortions per 100 live births
increased from 31.3 in 1999 to 32.2 in 2000.
Induced abortions continued to be most common among women in their
twenties, who accounted for 51% of all women who obtained an
abortion in 2000. On average, 26 women out of every 1,000 in
their twenties obtained an abortion.
From 1999 to 2000, induced abortion rates increased in
all provinces except Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. Rates are
based on induced abortions performed on Canadian residents in hospitals
and clinics in Canada, as well as legal abortions obtained by Canadian
women in the United States.
Information on methods and data quality available in the
Integrated Meta Data Base: survey number 3209.
Selected tables
for 1996 to 2000 are available in the Canadian
Statistics module of Statistics Canada's web site (www.statcan.ca).
Induced abortion data for 2000 were collected by the
Canadian Institute for Health Information. For more information on the
therapeutic abortion database, contact Media Relations (613-241-7860,
ext. 4004), Canadian Institute for Health Information.
For information on long-term trends in induced abortions, or to
enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release,
contact Paula Woollam (613-951-0879), Health Statistics Division.
| Therapeutic
abortions, by province of residence, and rates per 1,000 female
population |
| |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
1999 to 2000 |
1999 |
2000 |
| Number of abortions |
% change |
Rate per 1,000 women2 |
| Total1 |
110,331 |
105,666 |
105,427 |
-0.2 |
15.4 |
15.4 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador |
820 |
851 |
898 |
5.5 |
6.8 |
7.3 |
| Prince Edward Island |
149 |
145 |
158 |
9.0 |
4.8 |
5.2 |
| Nova Scotia |
2,053 |
1,917 |
1,989 |
3.8 |
9.1 |
9.5 |
| New Brunswick |
1,106 |
1,031 |
1,098 |
6.5 |
6.1 |
6.6 |
| Quebec |
31,673 |
30,722 |
31,125 |
1.3 |
18.9 |
19.4 |
| Ontario1 |
42,452 |
39,981 |
39,544 |
-1.1 |
15.4 |
15.1 |
| Manitoba |
3,447 |
3,517 |
3,366 |
-4.3 |
14.3 |
13.8 |
| Saskatchewan |
2,010 |
1,898 |
1,956 |
3.1 |
8.7 |
9.0 |
| Alberta |
10,355 |
10,188 |
10,432 |
2.4 |
14.7 |
14.9 |
| British Columbia |
15,482 |
14,642 |
14,009 |
-4.3 |
16.2 |
15.5 |
| Yukon |
150 |
111 |
135 |
21.6 |
14.6 |
18.2 |
| Northwest Territories |
292 |
238 |
281 |
18.1 |
23.2 |
27.8 |
| Nunavut |
... |
155 |
178 |
14.8 |
25.3 |
28.2 |
| US reporting |
297 |
231 |
215 |
-6.9 |
... |
... |
| Residence unknown |
45 |
39 |
43 |
10.3 |
... |
... |
| 1 |
Caution should be taken when comparing 1999 and 2000 data
to 1998 data. 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 clinics in
Ontario. Ontario now uses the billing system of the
Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to provide counts
of clinic abortions to the Therapeutic Abortion Survey.
As a result, 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. A comparison of the data collected using both
sources for the years 1995 to 1998 shows
that the new data source underestimated clinic abortions
performed on Ontario residents by an average of 5.4%
(950 cases) per year, or approximately 1% of
all abortions performed in Canada. The new source does
not include abortions performed on non-residents of
Ontario that averaged 70 cases per year or 0.4%
of total clinic abortions performed in Ontario. |
| 2 |
Rates are calculated using female population aged 15 to 44 years. |
| ... |
Not applicable. |
|
|
