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Myth Busters >
Myth: "In 2003 four of every five pregnant Asian women aborted their babies"
Abortion ratios for 2003 show that among the women of Asian ethnicities roughly four out of every ten known pregnancies ended in an abortion. This is half the ratio quoted above.
Abortion ratios give the proportion of pregnancies that end in an abortion. They are usually expressed as the number of abortions per 1,000 known pregnancies. Known pregnancies are live births, still births and abortions combined. Abortion ratios do not give an indication of the likelihood of getting pregnant.
Abortion ratios are not the same as abortion rates. Abortion rates measure how many abortions a group of women are likely to have in a given period.
This myth is busted
The abortion ratio for the Asian ethnic group was 397 per 1,000 in 2003, but dropped in 2004 and 2005 to 354 and 341 per 1,000, respectively. The equivalent figures for New Zealand as a whole were 248, 239 and 233 per 1,000, respectively.
Where did this myth come from?
Statistics New Zealand produces annual abortion statistics on behalf of the Abortion Supervisory Committee. Part 7 of Demographic Trends 2004 states that "There are also significant differences in the abortion ratio between ethnic groups when analysed by age. In 2003, four in five (81 percent) pregnant Asian teenagers (aged under 20 years) aborted their pregnancy." It looks like this myth has arisen from a copy and paste that left out a very important descriptor: it relates to teenagers.
Teenagers have the highest abortion ratios. In 2005, New Zealand's teenage abortion ratio was 478 abortions per 1,000 known pregnancies. The corresponding ratios for Maori, Pacific, European and Asian teenagers were 312, 390, 526 and 740, respectively.
Abortion rates and pregnancy rates by ethnicity are not available as Statistics New Zealand does not produce annual population estimates for the Pacific, Asian or European ethnic groups.
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