Top Ten States With Highest Teenage Abortion Rates

In a nation where abortion remains legal despite ongoing legal and legislative debate, which states have the highest rates of teenage abortion?

There appears to be a concentration of states in the Mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast. However, it's interesting to note that none of the states in this region appear on a ranking of the top ten states with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the US.

A September 2006 report by the Guttmacher Institute compiled teenage pregnancy and abortion statistics in the United States gathered state by state in 2000. Based on available data, below are listings of states ranked by abortion rates.

States ranked by rates of abortion among women age 15-19 (pregnancies per thousand):

1. New Jersey (47)
2. New York (46)
3. Maryland (38)
4. Nevada (36)
5. California (36)
6. Hawaii (34)
7. Florida (33)
8. Delaware (31)
9. Connecticut (30)
10. Illinois (27)

Only two of the above rank in the top ten states with the highest teenage pregnancy rates of young women age 15-19. They are Nevada (ranked first with 113 pregnancies per thousand) and California (ranked seventh with 96 pregnancies per thousand).

_{Source:
"U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity" Guttmacher Institute September 2006.}