Starting the 1970s, abortion demographics have shifted noticeably, with fewer U.S. white teenagers without a child and far more older women and mothers of color having an abortion, the findings of a new report show.

A study was conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research. According to The Washington Post, the results revealed the fact that women in their 20s and 30s who already had at least one child were making up a larger percentage of those who most underwent abortion procedures.

"There's been a real change in the picture of women who get abortions," asserted Rachel Jones, senior researcher of the Institute. "This is the first time anyone has looked at this in a comprehensive way."

Jones’s team looked at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as from regular surveys carried out by the Guttmacher Institute between 1974 and 2004. Beginning 1974, the proportion of abortions decreased by 33% from 29 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 1980 to 20 per 1,000 in 2004. The abortion rate of women younger than 20 fell gradually, from 33% in 1974 to 17% in 2004. In girls younger than 18 it dropped from 15% in 1974 to 6% in 2004.

Furthermore, black and Hispanic women abort their pregnancies at rates three to five times the rate of white women.

The study’s findings insinuate that "we need to figure out efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy, not only among teenagers but among all women, and in particularly women of color," Jones stated. According to Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "birth control is the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancies."