TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) today published a preliminary report titled Abortions in Kansas, 2012, Preliminary Report. The report reveals there were 7,457 abortions reported in 2012, which is 428 fewer than what was reported in 2011.

Out-of-state residents slightly outnumbered in-state residents, 3,796 reports to 3,661. Of the 3,796 out-of-state residents who obtained abortions in Kansas, 3,714 (97.8%) were residents of Missouri.

Women 20-24 years of age comprised the largest age-group seeking abortions (33.0%). The largest decline in the number of procedures also occurred to women 20-24 years of age, which decreased by 159 procedures (6.1%) from 2011.

State law requires that physicians, hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers report abortions to KDHE. The Women’s Right-to-Know Act requires physicians who perform abortions to provide certain information, certify to KDHE the number of informed-consents obtained from patients. There were 7,600 informed-consent certifications reported by physicians in 2012. That amount is 143 more than the number of procedures performed.

This report is a preliminary analysis of these data as collected by the KDHE Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics.