Toronto — Canadian Press Published on Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 1:22PM EST Last updated on Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 11:36AM EDT
The number of women seeking abortions across Canada appears to be continuing a downward trend, although in some provinces rates remain the same or are slightly on the rise, figures from Statistics Canada suggest.
In 2002, the latest year for which figures are available, Canadian women obtained 105,154 abortions, down one per cent from 106,270 in 2001, Statistics Canada said Friday.
That means the rate of abortion has marginally fallen to 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 2002 from 15.6 abortions per 1,000 women a year earlier.
More than half the induced abortions in 2002 were among women in their 20s. On average, 26 women out of every 1,000 in that age group had an abortion.
Rates in New Brunswick, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon remained the same or increased slightly from 2001. Statistics were not available for Nunavut.
Rates are based on induced abortions performed in hospitals and clinics in Canada, as well as abortions obtained by Canadian women in some U.S. states.
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