Current Trends Abortion Surveillance: Preliminary Analysis - United States, 1981

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been documenting data on women obtaining legal induced abortions in the United States since 1969, obtaining data from central health agencies of 52 reporting areas (the 50 states, 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. Information is reported on a voluntary basis as there is no national requirement for data submission.