...but the number of women coming into Tennessee to have the procedure is rising.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2010, there were 16, 373 abortions performed in Tennessee. That’s down 6% from a decade before.
In that same time period, the Tennessean newspaper reports that the percentage of women coming into Tennessee for abortions grew by more than 30%. In fact, a quarter of all abortions in Tennessee in 2010 were sought by out-of-state women.
Most abortions are sought by Tennessee women in their 20s, are first-time abortions, and are performed before seven weeks of gestation. Non-white women were more likely to obtain abortions than white women: 6,294 abortions in 2012 compared with 5,376 sought by white women.
This year, Tennessee voters will decide on Amendment 1, a ballot measure to remove abortion protections from the state constitution.
