Vermont

The fourteenth state to be admitted to the Union, Vermont had been inhabited by the Mohicans and the Abenaki tribes, and other Native Americans from as early as 8500 B.C.E. Before the arrival of European settlers, during the 16th century, it is believed that the Iroquois drove out many of the other tribes, reducing the population to about 12,000. The state now has a population of 621,270, with 50.8 percent of the state's population being female (only slightly more than the national average), and the increase in the state's population comes entirely from net migration into the state.

In its early years as part of the United States, Vermont remained a rural society, and a prosperous one, although the current state median household income is slightly lower than the national average. In 2008, 66.0 percent of women were in the civilian labor force. Vermont was the second state to introduce compulsory education, which came into law in 1867 for children between the ages of 6 and 16, and has long had good medical, midwifery, and maternity services. Currently, there is a great deal of innovative work and research at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, as well as its partner in Women's Health Care Services at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington.

According to Vermont's Family Leave Law, an employee is entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for events including pregnancy and childbirth, parental leave, and family leave to care for a family member with serious illness.

Currently, Vermont is the state with the lowest birth rate in the United States—10.4, compared to the state with the highest rate, Utah, which has a birth rate of 21. The fertility rate in the state, at 1.69 children per women, is also the lowest of any state in the Union, although there is an average of 2.44 people per household in 2000, not much less than the national average of 2.59 people per household. The marriage rate in 2004 was 9.4 per 1,000 and the divorce rate in was 3.9 per 1,000 population. There has also been much discussion in Vermont about making adoptions easier, especially in connection with reducing the waiting period.

In 2005 the abortion rate in Vermont was 11.7 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, a decline of 8 percent since 2000, when the rate was 12.7 per 1,000; 16 percent of all pregnancies in that year ended in induced abortions. There were 12 abortion providers in Vermont in 2005; 43 percent of counties had no abortions, and 24 percent of women lived in those counties. Vermont has no restrictions (such as waiting periods or mandated waiting periods) on abortion.