Brookings on Abortion

A study released by the Brookings Institution in Washington finds that single women whose income is 400 percent of the federal poverty line or higher are nearly four times as likely to opt for an abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The findings contradict earlier statements by the Guttmacher Institute, which reports that women with family incomes at or above 200 percent of the poverty line have abortions at about half the national rate. The Brookings paper, released in February, reports that single women who make four times the federal poverty level have an abortion rate of 31.9 percent while those at or below the line have a rate of only 8.6 percent. The authors cite a sociological study that states “a baby—even when unplanned—is a great source of fulfillment in low-income communities.”