Abortion Statistics

Reporting in Canada

Due to significantly incomplete reporting of abortion statistics in Canada, it is becoming increasingly difficult to formulate a profile of the women who undergo this procedure. Missing information includes age of the mother, age of gestation of the fetus, previous abortions or births, type of abortion, demographic information and most importantly medical case data including abortion complications.

Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released their 2005 therapeutic abortion report in May of 2008. Of the 96,815 abortions reported there were only 41,330 detailed records for hospital and clinic abortions combined. Therefore, percentages of women having specific characteristics with regard to abortion such as any immediate complications, or being within a certain age range, etc. is based only on the total detailed records available.

Clinics:

The total number of clinic abortions reported in 2005 was 46,692. Only one province (Alberta) provided detailed records for 6,905 clinic abortions.

Ontario accounts for 34% of all abortions reported in Canada.

Hospitals:

Canadian hospitals reported 50,562 induced abortions in 2005. Detailed records are available for only 34,425.

Overall, demographic and medical information is available for 40% of the 96,815 induced abortions performed on Canadian women in 2005:

	Hospital Abortions	Clinic Abortions	Hospital & Clinic Abortions
Total records in Database	50,562	46,692	96,815
Total Detailed Records	34,425	6,905	41,330

From the incomplete data obtained by CIHI, Statistics Canada, Health Statistics Division reported that in 2005:

• There were 96,815 induced abortions performed on Canadian women in 2005. This is down 3.2% from last year's 100,093 reported abortions.
• Approximately 300 abortions are performed in Canada each day.
• 53.1% of the women having clinic and hospital abortions were between 20 to 29 years of age.
• 25.2% were 30-39 years of age at the time of their abortion.
• 16.9 % of women having clinic and hospital abortions were between 10 and 19 years of age.
• 48.4% of the women had undergone at least one previous abortion.
• 41.7% of women undergoing an abortion in Canada had no other children.
• Women who have had previous deliveries account for a growing proportion of abortions: 42.5 % in 2004 and 46.8% in 2005.

The following table lists percentages of babies aborted according to age of gestation and the total number of babies aborted in each category:

Gestation Period	Hospital	Clinic	Hospital & Clinic	Total Number
Under 9 weeks:	30.3	40.7	32.1	31,078
9-12 weeks:	40.9	41.6	41	39,694
13-16 weeks:	6.2	12.4	7.3	7,067
Over 16 weeks:	4.7	5.1	4.8	4,647
Unknown:	17.8	0.1	14.9	14,425

*Database includes abortions performed in Canada on Canadian residents only. Only Alberta clinics responded. N.B.: Percentage distribution is based on detailed records only.