I've been playing with some new tools in Google Docs, including this Motion Chart widget. Let's see if this publishes right...

Here you can see the rate of abortion in Canada plotted against the rate of live births in Canada, from 1991 to 2006:



I must admit that I'm quite surprised at the rates! Over those years, anywhere from 18–24% of pregnancies (live births + abortions) were aborted. To me, that says there's a hell of a lot of women getting pregnant who don't want to be. Is there a problem with access to birth control? Education about adherence issues with birth control? Are women being put in positions where they can't insist on birth control without facing other risks?

It does seem to be turning around lately though. The rate of live births seems to be holding fairly steady, while abortion rates are falling.

For more incredible charts like this, watch this video with the ever-entertaining Prof Hans Rosling:

Labels: abortion, charts, google