Comments on: Abortion Rates in the United States, 1970-2005

By: S

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:33:33 +0000

“Many people travel long distances to get abortions in NY since itâ€™s one of the few places in the US where itâ€™s possible to get one if youâ€™re late-term.”

Actually, NY isn’t one of those places. Late-term abortions are heavily restricted in NY.

The key to understanding this map is that the data is from 1970-2005. Roe V. Wade was decided in 1973. Prior to Roe V. Wade, only two of the lower 48 states allowed abortion for non-health-threatening reasons — NY and WA. So during this 3-year head start, all of the (legal) abortions in the mainland US were concentrated in NY and WA. It’s likely women traveled from all over.

By: db

db — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:05:34 +0000

I’m looking forward to the tutorial — I want to start mapping in R myself!

By: Sunya

Sunya — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:22:47 +0000

The question of abortions by residents of a state as opposed to abortions performed in a state is an important one. Many people travel long distances to get abortions in NY since it’s one of the few places in the US where it’s possible to get one if you’re late-term.

Also important is the availability of abortion-providers, which is some states may be in the single digits. You can’t get an abortion if you can’t GET an abortion.

Finally, the using the area of a state to represent it is, of course, misleading in terms of population, and therefore frequency of any human activity. Fight the non-normative norm!

Thanks for the discussion.
s

By: dormilon

dormilon — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:12:15 +0000

Will we ever devise a standard way to ensure that we include ALL 50 states? Or is Roe v. Wade inapplicable in Alaska and Hawaii?

By: digg » Blog Archive » Roundup: Third-Trimester Abortions May Continue in Kansas

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:31:15 +0000

[...] June 12: Flowing Data:Abortion Rates in the United States, 1970-2005 [...]

By: Science Etcetera, Moonday 20090615 | ideonexus.com

Science Etcetera, Moonday 20090615 | ideonexus.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:01:04 +0000

[...] Wyoming has had 14 between 1970 and 2005, and New York has had 124,849 according to a map of abortion rates in the U.S. [...]

By: John W. Palmer

John W. Palmer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:41:56 +0000

I think that’s an excellent point. Since it’s a per 1,000 base, it’s all still relative, but having that companion count at the same time may be somewhat revealing.

By: Nathan Yau

Nathan Yau — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:20:35 +0000

i’ll post a tutorial once i get my junk in order

By: DaveW

DaveW — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:44:56 +0000

Lotiat, Yellow? Gray?

By: elana

elana — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:47:21 +0000

I agree that it would be more impactful with a shorter time frame and overlaid with information about access to abortion services, for instance the number of clinics in a state.