Adolescents aged 15 to 19 saw the largest decline in abortion rate among any group between 2008 and 2014, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
For the study, researchers examined secondary data from the Abortion Patient Survey, the American Community Survey, and the National Survey of Family Growth to estimate the prevalence of abortion among various groups during the six-year time period.
The study found the abortion rate fell from 19.4 in 2008 to 14.6 in 2014 (25 percent) per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. The decline was even greater among adolescents aged 15 to 19 at 46 percent.
"Abortion rates [also] declined for all racial and ethnic groups but were larger for non-White women than for non-Hispanic White women," study authors wrote. "Although the abortion rate decreased 26 percent for women with incomes less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level, this population had the highest abortion rate of all the groups examined: 36.6."
Researchers projected 24 percent of women aged 15 to 44 in 2014 will have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old, "if the 2014 age-specific abortion rates prevail."