The Illinois abortion statistics for 2006 generated virtually no coverage when released by the Illinois Department of Public Health on November 30th.  Given the recent trend of decreasing abortions in many states, including Illinois, the jump of over 3,000 abortions should raise some questions.  (Check the annual totals at Illinois Abortion Statistics: 1973-Current, http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/abortion/Abortion73-current.htm.)

The number of abortions in Illinois for 2006 reached 46,467, compared to a 2005 total of 43,409.  The increase of 3,058 broke down to 2,003 committed on Illinois residents and 1,055 committed on women from out-of-state or of unknown residency.

Though abortions went up in every age category for Illinois residents, 64% of the 2,003 increase came among women who were 20-29 years old.  While total abortions for Illinois residents rose by 5.2%, the increase for the 20-29 age category was 6.2%.   That compares to an increase of 2.4% for 15-19 year-olds. 

Given the study (January 2007 edition of the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology) done by morning-after pill advocates showing that increased use of "emergency contraception" failed to reduce abortion rates in other nations, and often led to more abortions, might these abortion increases be connected to more attempted reliance on the morning-after pill? 

The 1,055 additional abortions committed on women from out-of-state or of unknown residency represents an increase of 21% over 2005, bringing total abortions in these categories to 6,055.  In 2004, this total was 3,514 so there has been a very rapid increase in abortions done on non-residents.