Induced abortions
(taken from Stats Canada)

2001

Canadian women obtained 106,418 abortions in 2001, a slight increase of almost 1% from 105,427 in the previous year. The rate of abortion has also marginally increased from 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 2000 to 15.6 abortions per 1,000 women in 2001.

The ratio of the number of induced abortions per 100 live births decreased from 32.2 in 2000 to 31.9 in 2001.

Induced abortions continue to be the most common among women in their 20s, who accounted for 51% of all women who obtained an abortion in 2001. On average, 27 women out of every 1,000 in their 20s obtained an abortion.

Induced abortion rates increased for residents of all provinces and territories except for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Yukon and Nunavut. The most significant rate increase was seen in British Columbia and is attributable to an improvement in the coverage of the Therapeutic Abortion Survey. A facility that previously did not participate in the survey began submitting counts of abortions as of 2001. 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 some American states.

Data users should be aware of certain limitations to the Therapeutic Abortion Survey. There are recognized issues concerning coverage, increased submission of aggregate counts instead of detailed records, and an increased reliance on age estimation.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3209 .

Selected tables for the years 1997 to 2001 are available online in the Canadian Statistics module of our website.

Historical statistics dating back to 1970 are available in the publication Induced Abortion Statistics ( 82-223-XIE , free). From Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free , then Health .

Induced abortion data for 2001 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.