Therapeutic abortions, Canada, 1987.

A total of 63,662 therapeutic abortions were performed in hospitals in Canada in 1987, an increase of 0.2% from the 63,508 performed in 1986. The abortion rate per 1,000 women 15-44 years was 10.2 in 1987, as it had been in 1986. Looking at marital status at the time of abortion, 67.3% of women were single, 21.8% married and the remaining 10.9% were separated, divorced, widowed or living common-law. About 22% of the women were under 20 years of age, 54.3% were between 20-29 years, 21.3% were from 30 to 39 years and 2.4% were over 39 years of age. At time of pregnancy termination, the gestation period was under 13 weeks for 88.5% of abortion cases, 13 to 16 weeks for 8% of cases, and over 16 weeks for 3.5% of cases.