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About half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, happening when women do not want or are not yet ready to be pregnant. Some women choose to continue unintended pregnancies, but about 4 in 10 women choose abortion to end these pregnancies. About one in three U.S. women has had an abortion by age 45.
Despite the strong feelings that discussions about abortion can trigger, the procedure itself is legal and medically safe. Only 3 of every 1000 women who undergo abortion have complications requiring a hospital stay, and only 1 in 1 million die. For comparison, 120 of 1 million women die as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Abortion does not change a woman’s chances of future pregnancies, nor does it increase her …