Are you ready for some belly laughs? Well, hang on tight, because we’re talking about pregnancy. That’s right, the pandemic gave us many things to worry about, but did you know that it may have also caused people to hold off on baby-making? Yup, according to early evidence, many people delayed getting pregnant. I mean, who wants to bring a baby into a world full of toilet paper shortages and Zoom calls?
But wait, there’s more! On top of that, there could potentially be an increase in unwanted or mistimed births in states with new abortion bans. The irony, am I right?
Now, let’s talk about America’s track record with unintended pregnancies. We’ve got one of the highest rates in the industrialized world. Yikes! But, on the bright side, it has declined 23 percent in the last three decades. So, I guess the U.S. is slowly but surely getting the hang of family planning? Maybe we’ll catch up to Western Europe and their 36 percent rate of unintended pregnancies one day.
The new analysis suggests that American women gained more autonomy over their family planning during the study period. You go, ladies! And because of this, the number of abortions in America decreased. Wow, sometimes progress really is a beautiful thing.
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the data. According to the researchers, the declines in unintended pregnancies were because “far fewer individuals were becoming pregnant in 2015 than in 2009, and that abortion incidence went down because individuals did not get pregnant, not because their pregnancies continued to a birth instead of an abortion.” In simpler terms, fewer people were getting knocked up.
Last but not least, let’s talk statistics. In 2009, 42 percent of women said their pregnancy came too soon. But by 2015, that number had decreased to just under a quarter of women. That’s an 18 percent drop, folks! And to top it off, the share of pregnant women who said they did not want a baby at all also decreased by 5 percent, to 17 percent. How did this happen, you ask? Well, apparently younger women had significantly fewer unwanted pregnancies. Who knew the youth was so wise when it comes to family planning?

Serious News: nytimes