Abortion Rates vs. Teenage

Pregnancy Rates

Background Information

Question

Does the rate of teenage pregnancies effect the rate of

abortions in Canada from 1990-2005?

Variables

Independent: Teenage PregnanciesDependant: Abortions

Hypothesis

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809834191/trailer

“Not Set in Stone”

Teenage Pregnancy

Health Risks for Newborn Babies

•Low birth weight, under-developed organs, bleeding in the brain, respiratory distress syndrome, intestinal problems

Health Risks for Teen Moms•Anaemia, hypertension (high blood pressure), renal disease (kidney failure), eclampsia (seizures during pregnancy), depression.

Other Risks•Reduced education (for mother and the child’s future), low profitable income, no partner to help with income.

Abortions

The Abortion Law

•Supreme Court uplifts abortion law in 1988

•Put in place in 1898

•First criminal law to be passed by the Parliament of Canada

•Illegal to sell, distribute, or use any form of contraceptives

•May 1970-35 women chained themselves to the Parliamentary Gallery for two days

•Law uplifted because it violated section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Every woman has the right of “life, liberty and security of person.”

DataYear Teenage

Pregnancies

Abortions

1990 45639 929011991 45553 950511992 46221 1020851993 46376 1044031994 47569 1062251995 46593 1082431996 45375 1116591997 42953 1117091998 43012 1103311999 41089 1056662000 39208 1054272001 37622 1064182002 35547 1051542003 33553 1037682004 32035 1000392005 30948 96815

Teen Pregnancies•Any pregnancy reported in Canada and pregnancies of Canadian residents in the United States that are under the age of 20 years (not including 20).

Abortions•Any abortion (all ages) reported in Canadian clinics and hospitals and abortions of Canadian residents in clinics in the United States.

One-Variable GraphCentral Tendency: Teen Pregnancy

•Mean: 43953•Mode:45639•Median: 42953

Central Tendency: Abortions

•Mean: 111060•Mode:92901•Median: 105154

Two-Variable Graph

Standard Deviation & Coefficient of Determination

•Teen Pregnancies: 6330.60; Abortions: 9085.70•Coefficient of Determination: 0.2168

Bias & Sampling Methods

Bias

•Non-Response Bias: For data years 1990-1992, abortion data for teens under 20 years are not available for the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Also this data is not available for teen pregnancies in years 1990-1992.

Sampling Method

•Cluster Sampling: Certain groups were representative of the data (teenagers aged under 20 years).

Hidden Variables•2002 and 2003, Nunavut residents are excluded due to incomplete reporting. This could bring up the numbers for abortions and teen pregnancies.

•2004 and 2005, information on induced abortions performed in clinics in Manitoba was not submitted. If it had been included, it could bring up the number of abortions for the given years.

•Increased awareness and access to the use of contraceptives.

•Increased knowledge of the use of contraceptives.

Conclusion

•Teenage pregnancies are declining because less and less teens are becoming pregnant. This results in the reduction of abortions because abortions are no longer needed as much. Though the data does not completely correlate, by looking at the one-variable graphs, you can clearly see that both variables are steadily decreasing, as stated in my hypothesis.

"Teen pregnancies in Canada at All-Time Low." Canada.com. Ed. Alex McKay. Canwest Media, 14 Apr. 2008.

•Statistics Canada. Table 106-9002 - Pregnancy outcomes, by age group, Canada, provinces and territories, annual, CANSIM (database), Using E-STAT (distributor). http://estat.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.exe?Lang=E&EST-Fi=EStat/English/CII_1-eng.htm (accessed: January 2, 2011)

•Statistics Canada. Table 106-9034 - Induced abortions in hospitals and clinics, by age group and area of residence of patient, Canada, provinces and territories, annual, CANSIM (database), Using E-STAT (distributor). http://estat.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.exe?Lang=E&EST-Fi=EStat/English/CII_1-eng.htm (accessed: January 2, 2011)

• "Teen pregnancies in Canada at All-Time Low." Canada.com. Ed. Alex McKay. Canwest Media, 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 3 Jan. 2011. <http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=e5dad385-c1d5-4ae2-9681-8aa188f5496a>.

Citations