The Virginia Center for Health Statistics recently released its annual tabulation of abortions in Virginia. The latest list, for the year 1999, shows a total of 27,354 “induced terminations of pregnancy,” an increase over the 26,115 reported in 1998. Prior to 1999, the number of Virginia abortions had been decreasing, or approximately holding steady, for more than a decade.

The largest number of abortions was in Northern Virginia, 10,034, an increase of 10% over the 1998 figure. The next highest concentration was in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area, which also showed an increase of almost 10%, for a total of 8,427 abortions. The third highest area was around Richmond with 6,242 abortions, which was a decrease of almost 1% .

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, January 2001