Abortion Surveillance - United States, 1995

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been documenting the number and characteristics of women obtaining legal induced abortions in the United States since 1969, obtaining data from central health agencies of 52 reporting areas (the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City). A legal induced abortion is defined as an intervention performed by a licensed clinician (e.g., a physician, nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant) that is intended to terminate an ongoing pregnancy. States and areas report this information on a voluntary basis as there is no national requirement for data submission or reporting. The 1995 edition of the Abortion Surveillance Summary is accompanied by two other summaries: Tetanus Surveillance-United States, 1995-1997 and Postneonatal Mortality Surveillance-United States, 1980-1994.