The following summarizes news coverage of state abortion statistics in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

~ Minnesota The number of abortions performed in Minnesota decreased for the second consecutive year in 2008, according to an annual report from the state Department of Health, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Except for a onetime increase in 2006, the number of abortions in Minnesota has trended downward since a peak in 1980, when 19,028 procedures were performed. The new report found that 12,948 abortions were performed in the state in 2008, a decrease of 895 from 2007. Women ages 20 to 24 accounted for about onethird of the procedures, the most among any age group. The number of procedures among teenagers continued a decline that began in the 1990s but had leveled off slightly earlier this decade, the report found. The report also found that less than onethird of women reported using contraception and about one in seven was married at the time of conception (Von Sternberg, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/1).

~ Wisconsin Wisconsin abortion providers performed 8,229 procedures in 2008, the lowest number since the state began collecting statistics in 1974, according to an annual report by the state Department of Health Services, the AP/Milwaukee JournalSentinel reports. The number of abortions has declined annually since 2003, when 10,557 procedures were performed. State law requires abortion providers to provide DHS with the data. According to the report, slightly more than half of abortions took place in the first eight weeks of pregnancy. Women who had never been married accounted for about threefourths of all procedures. The report found that 12% of abortions occurred among women ages 35 and older; 34% were among women ages 20 to 24; 11% were among women ages 18 and 19; and 6% were among girls ages 15 to 17. The number of abortions among minors decreased from 551 in 2007 to 500 in 2008, with parents providing consent in 452 of those cases (Richmond, AP/Milwaukee JournalSentinel, 6/30).

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