The abortion rate in the U.S. fell to its lowest point since 1974, the first full year after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure nationwide, new data show. Moreover, the actual number of abortions continues a steady decline, according to the first new comprehensive data in five years.

Guttmacher Institute in New York, a New York-based non-profit group focused on reproductive health and one of the most authorities sources of data on abortions in the U.S. revealed that there were 1.2 million abortions or 19.4 for every 1,000 women of reproductive age in 2005 compared to 1.6 million abortions or 27.4 per 1,000 women in 1990.

Researchers believe that increased access to birth control and medical care helped reduce the number of abortions, they say in a study published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Moreover, 87 percent of U.S. counties did not have an abortion provider in 2005, up from 77 percent in 1978. The research focused on abortions in women ages 15 to 44.

The report did not give specific reasons for the dropping number in abortions; they just blamed a combination of factors.

“It could be that women are having a harder time accessing abortion services. It could be more women using contraception and not having as many unintended pregnancies. It could also be that more women are accessing family planning services and using contraception,” said Rachel Jones, the lead study author and a senior research associate at Guttmacher in a telephone interview.

Abortion opponents and abortion rights advocates are more than pleased with the results of the research.

“This study shows that prevention works and that’s what we provide in our health centers every day. At the end the day, Americans of all stripes believe that we need to do more to prevent unintended pregnancy and make health care affordable and accessible,” said Cecile Richard of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“I would like to say that it’s at least partially due to increased availability of emergency contraception, which is really good addition to reproductive health care in this country,” said Suzanne T. Poppema of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.

The report based its results on a survey conducted regularly since 1970s of all abortion providers known to the Guttmacher Institute. The latest survey on 1,787 providers was conducted in 2005 and was the first since 2000.

Jones said that the decreased number of abortion could be attributed also to the introduction of New York-based Danco Laboratories’ pill, RU-486, also known as Mifeprex, a drug approved in 2000 for use through the seventh week of pregnancy, which allows women to terminate their pregnancies without the need for a surgical procedure.

About 57 percent of abortion providers were offering the drug by 2005, accounting for 13 percent of abortions, the reports said.

“We found that there were providers who previously didn’t offer surgical abortions and are now only providing early medical abortions. If it wasn’t for those providers, the number of providers would have declined by far now,” Jones said.