Black Women in New York City Aborted More Than Half of Their Reported Pregnancies in 2012; Reported Most Miscarriages Too
Black women in New York City aborted more than half of their pregnancies in 2012, topping the number of abortions recorded by women of every other racial or ethnic group in the city, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Statistics provided by the city's Bureau of Vital Statistics in a report titled, Summary of Vital Statistics 2012, The City of New York, revealed that not only were black women leading every other racial or ethnic group of women in abortions, they also had the highest rate of pregnancies and the most miscarriages as well.
Black women had a chart-leading 115.7 pregnancies for every 1,000 women, but a total of 31,328 of those pregnancies were aborted in 2012 and an additional 3,446 of those pregnancies were reported as miscarriages. Only 24,758 black babies were born alive.
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According to the report, black women also accounted for the most preterm births – babies born younger than 37 weeks old; the most babies born with low birth weights; being the most overweight or obese and had the highest rate of Cesarean sections (C-sections). Black women were also more likely than any other racial group to have started prenatal care late (in the third trimester) or had none at all.
Hispanic women recorded the second highest number of abortions in New York City with 22,917. They, however, had more than 10,000 more live births than black women, with a total of 36,642 recorded.
Even though white women recorded the lowest rate of pregnancy with 76.2 for every 1,000, they had the highest number of live births in the city, 39,112 and the second lowest number of abortions recorded, 9,704.
Asians and Pacific Islander women had the lowest number of abortions with 4,493 recorded among the group.
