To Hear People Discuss Abortion You'd Think It Was A Very Rare Procedure...

That could not be further from the truth.  In reality, abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States. 

Health Topics: Facts for Women: Termination of Pregnancy

Half of all women in the United States will have an abortion in their lifetime.


Health Topics: Facts for Women: Termination of Pregnancy
Half of all women in the United States will have an abortion in their lifetime. A woman may choose to have an abortion for many different reasons, ...
depts.washington.edu/uwcoe/healthtopics/.../term_facts.html - Cached - Similar




Who chooses an abortion?
Half of all women in the United States will have an abortion in their lifetime.

http://depts.washington.edu/uwcoe/healthtopics/familyplan/term_facts.html

_{^{Half U.S. abortions are repeats for women}}
Most were over 30 and were using contraception at the time, study finds
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15841448/

Unplanned Pregnancy, Abortion Often Happen More Than Once in a Woman's Lifetime

http://www.emaxhealth.com/89/8395.html


In fact, the only notable differences between women obtaining a first abortion and those who had already had one or more abortions are that those obtaining repeat abortions tend to be older and to have more children. This makes sense, as older women have been at risk of unintended pregnancy longer than younger women. Overall, most women obtaining abortions are poor or low-income, and six in 10 are already mothers.
The majority of women having abortions were using contraceptives when they became pregnant, regardless of whether it was their first abortion or they had already had a prior abortion. In fact, women obtaining second and higher-order abortions were slightly more likely to have been using a highly effective hormonal method (such as the pill, the patch or the ring) when they became pregnant. These patterns suggest that most women who have abortions are trying to avoid unintended pregnancies but are having trouble doing so.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/89/8395.html

61% of women obtaining abortions in 2008 already had children, including 34% who had two or more.
Half of the women surveyed reported one or more prior abortions; most of these women (37% of all abortion patients) reported both a prior birth and a prior abortion.
http://blog.archny.org/steppingout/?p=1024

A Planned Parenthood handbook on abortion notes that nearly half of all abortions are for women who describe themselves as born-again Christian, Evangelical Christian, or Catholic. (4)

from
"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion"
When the Anti-Choice Choose
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html

Though only 31% of teens believe they would consider an abortion; in fact about 40% of teens have abortions.6

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:6FgX6sejWB0J:www.cedu.niu.edu/~shumow/iit/Teenage%2520Pregnancy.pdf+why+do+teens+feel+it+is+socially+acceptable+to+be+teen+mothers&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjpvDTWMXvs0KU6azjoZkxeaMknc0ymp2wYIwvF4jFBmaczSQ5z3S0VJpgs80x4DeAzpOK91lv4kVU3ihapx7bL2kXUnaY0rzW-QhVeeJGb5p-gCpZBDt9ah05OXPuL_SWBnRms&sig=AHIEtbSlM7Wwbm87uvh-1GpwCK_CHXwwGA


6
SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States). Teen Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion.
SIECUS Report, Volume 30, Number 3: February/March 2002. Available online:
http://www.siecus.org/pubs/fact/fact0010.html