TITLE:
Racial disparity in years of potential life lost to induced abortions
AUTHORS:
James Studnicki, Sharon J. MacKinnon, John W. Fisher
KEYWORDS:
Abortion; Years of Potential Life Lost
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
10,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The magnitude of the overall prevalence and racial
disparity in induced abortion suggests that it is a major influence on the
demographic and socioeconomic composition of the population of the United States (US). However,
the years of potential lives averted by induced abortion have not been
systematically studied. We applied race-specific intra-uterine death estimates
to the induced abortions occurring to non-Hispanic (NH) white and
non-Hispanic (NH) black women in the US state of North Carolina in 2008. The
resultant estimate of births averted by induced abortion was used to project
years of potential life lost. All-cause detailed mortality data were used to
compare induced abortion with other contributing causes of years of potential
life lost before age 75 (YPLL 75). For NH whites, induced abortions in 2008
contributed 59% of total YPLL 75, and 1.5 times the total YPLL 75 from all
other causes combined. For NH blacks, induced abortions in 2008 contributed 76%
of total YPLL 75 and 3.2 times the total YPLL 75 from all other causes
combined. Induced abortion is the overwhelmingly predominant contributing cause
of preventable potential lives lost in the North Carolina population, and NH
blacks are disproportionately affected.