Just in time for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, some surprising but very encouraging news on the abortion front today, from the Chicago Tribune:

The abortion rate in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since 1974, the first full year after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide, new data show.

The annual rate has been falling steadily since 1981, paralleling a sharp decline in the number of abortion providers. Recent years also have seen an upsurge in legislation making it more difficult for women to access abortions and for doctors to perform them.

Thirty-five years after the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, in which the Supreme Court said women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, states have enacted hundreds of laws requiring mandatory waiting periods, parental consent for minors, ultrasound imaging of the fetus and numerous other regulations.

According to the figures being published Thursday, the abortion rate was 19.4 per 1,000 women age 15-44 in 2005, the last year for which information is available. At its peak in 1981, the rate was 29.3, up from 19.3 in 1974.

Despite an increase in the number of women of reproductive age, the actual number of abortions also has dropped in the last 15 years, from a high of 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.3 million in 2000 and 1.2 million in 2005.

Even so, one in five pregnancies still ended in abortion in 2005, noted Lorie Chaiten, director of the reproductive rights project for the ACLU of Illinois, who was not involved in the research.

“We need to increase access to family planning and comprehensive sex education,” she said. “The U.S. has the highest rate of unintended pregnancy of any developed country in the world.”

Although there are probably multiple reasons for that, most experts attribute it to the lack of comprehensive education in sexuality and access to contraceptives.

The new abortion statistics, published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, come from a census of known abortion providers conducted by the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy group.

Rachel Jones, lead author of the report, noted that abortion rates can differ among subsets of the population. For example, rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion have increased among poor women, but the rate of adolescent pregnancies declined because more teens were using contraceptives.

(However, last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the teen birth rate rose in 2006, the first increase in 15 years.)

There are also differences from one part of the country to another. “Some states, such as Connecticut, had increases in the abortion rate,” Jones said. “But Illinois had a larger-than-average decline — the rate came down 19 percent from 2000 to 2005.”

The census does not detail the reasons for the decline, and the number of abortion providers in Illinois has not decreased substantially, Jones said. But it’s possible that more providers are concentrated in urban areas, which could mean women in rural areas are having more trouble getting abortions.

Chaiten guessed that lack of access was at least part of the explanation. “We know women are traveling long distances to access these services,” she said. “Not everyone can afford to do that.”

Bill Beckman, director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee, said he sees the national decline in abortion numbers as a victory for anti-abortion efforts.

“A number of states over the last five or six years have enhanced their pro-life laws, such as requirements for informed consent and parental notice,” said Beckman. “When those laws take effect, the rate of abortion drops. I think the data they’re getting is reflecting that change.”

Meantime, Our Sunday Visitor has more on the political stalemate over abortion in its current issue.