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U.S. Abortion Statistics

Below is a breakdown of various statistics relating to abortions performed in the United States since the U. S. Supreme Court ruled (7-2) that a woman was entitled to terminate an unwanted pregnancy in the 1973 landmark case Roe v. Wade.

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American's views concerning Abortion

79% do not support the current abortion-on-demand policy, saying abortion should be legal only in some circumstances (68%), or illegal in all circumstances (11%).
Marist Poll, December 2011

78% believe that women who have abortions commonly experience moderately severe to very severe negative emotional reactions to abortion. Medical Science Monitor, 2003

95% of women want to be informed of all risks of a medical procedure; 69% want to be informed of all alternatives. Journal of Medical Ethics, July 2006

64% of women who experienced one or more abortions “felt pressured by others” to have the abortion. Medical Science Monitor, Oct. 2004

Why do women have abortions?

74% say having a baby would interfere with work, school, or other responsibilities.

73% say they cannot afford to have a child.

48% say they do not want to be a single parent, or have relationship problems with husband or partner.

Less than 2% say they became pregnant as a result of rape or incest. Source: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Perspective on Sexual & Reproductive Health, Sept. 2005

ANNUAL ABORTION STATISTICS

In 2008, approximately 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S., down from an estimated 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2008, nearly 50 million legal abortions have occurred in the U.S. (AGI).

In 2007, the highest number of reported legal induced abortions occurred in Florida (91,954), NYC (90,870), and Texas (80,886); the fewest occurred in Wyoming (9), South Dakota (707), and North Dakota (1,235) (CDC).

The 2007 abortion ratios by state ranged from a low of 58 abortions per 1,000 live births in Idaho and South Dakota (Wyoming had too few abortions for reliable tabulation) to a high of 737 abortions per 1,000 live births in NYC (CDC).

The annual number of legal induced abortions in the United States doubled between 1973 and 1979, and peaked in 1990. There was a slow but steady decline through the 1990's. The number of annual abortions decreased by 2% between 2000 and 2007, with a slight spike in 2006. (CDC)

In 1998, the last year for which estimates were made, more than 23% of legal induced abortions were performed in California (CDC).

In 2005, the abortion rate in the United States was higher than recent rates reported for Canada and Western European countries and lower than rates reported for China, Cuba, the majority of Eastern European countries, and certain Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (CDC).

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended; about 4 in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion. (AGI).

WHO HAS ABORTIONS?

In 2007, 84% of all abortions were performed on unmarried women (CDC).

Women between the ages of 20-24 obtained 33% of all abortions; women between 25-29 obtained 24% (CDC).

50% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25; women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all U.S. abortions and teenagers obtain 17% (AGI).

In 2007, adolescents under 15 years obtained .05% of all abortions, but had the highest abortion ratio, 768 abortions for every 1,000 live births (CDC).

47% of women who have abortions had at least one previous abortion (AGI).

Black women are more than 4.8 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely (AGI).

37% of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 28% identify themselves as Catholic (AGI).

At current rates, nearly one-third of American women will have an abortion (AGI).

WHY ARE ABORTIONS PERFORMED?

On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 3/4 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner (AGI).

WHEN DO ABORTIONS OCCUR?

88-92% of all abortions happen during the first trimester, prior to the 13th week of gestation (AGI/CDC).

HOW ARE ABORTIONS PERFORMED?

In 2007, 86% of abortions were performed by curettage (which includes dilatation and evacuation [D&E]). Most curettage abortions are suction procedures (CDC).

Medical abortions made up approximately 12% of all abortions reported (CDC).

WHO IS PERFORMING ABORTIONS?

The number of abortion providers declined by 11% between 1996 and 2000 (from 2,042 to 1,819). It declined another 2% between 2000 and 2005 (from 1,819 to 1,787) It has remained stable between 2005 and 2008 (1,787 to 1,793). (AGI).

Forty-two percent of providers offer very early abortions (during the first four weeks’ gestation) and 95% offer abortion at eight weeks. Sixty-four percent of providers offer at least some second-trimester abortion services (13 weeks or later), and 20% offer abortion after 20 weeks. Eleven percent of all abortion providers offer abortions past 24 weeks (AGI).

ABORTION FATALITY

In 2007, 6 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion (CDC).

The number of deaths attributable to legal induced abortion was highest before the 1980s (CDC).

In 1972 (the year before abortion was federally legalized), a total of 24 women died from causes known to be associated with legal abortions, and 39 died as a result of known illegal abortions (CDC).

THE COST OF ABORTION

In 2009, the average cost of a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks of gestation was $451 (AGI).

MEDICAL ABORTION

In 2005, 57% of abortion providers, or 1,026 facilities, provided one or more types of medical abortions, a 70% increase from the first half of 2001. At least 10% of nonhospital abortion providers offer only medication abortion services (AGI).

In 2005, an estimated 161,100 early medication abortions were performed in nonhospital facilities (AGI).

Medication abortion accounted for 17% of all abortions in 2008 (AGI).

ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION

Induced abortions usually result from unintended pregnancies, which often occur despite the use of contraception (CDC).

54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Among those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use (AGI).

8% of women having abortions have never used a method of birth control (AGI).

9 in 10 women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using a contraceptive method (AGI).

ABORTION AND MINORS

40% of minors having an abortion report that neither of their parents knew about the abortion (AGI).

35 states currently enforce parental consent or notification laws for minors seeking an abortion: AL, AR, AZ, CO, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI , MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV, and WY. The Supreme Court ruled that minors must have the alternative of seeking a court order authorizing the procedure (AGI).

ABORTION AND PUBLIC FUNDS

The U.S. Congress has barred the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortions, except when the woman's life would be endangered by a full-term pregnancy or in cases of rape or incest (AGI).

17 states (AK, AZ, CA, CT, HI, IL, MA, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) do use public funds to pay for abortions for some poor women. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds (virtually all from the state) (AGI).

Source: Abort73.com

Abortions by State (2005-2009)
Alabama-Mississippi

State

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Alabama	9,707	9,542	9,403	9,737	9,392
Alaska	1,956	1,923	1,701	1,759	1,938
Arizona	10,446	10,506	10,486	10,396	10,045
Arkansas	4,122	5,037	4,866	4,869	n/a
California	208,430	215,500	223,180	n/a	n/a
Colorado	10,541	11,002	10,483	10,680	n/a
Connecticut	16,780	14,351	17,390	17,030	n/a
Delaware	11,603	11,898	12,097	12,016	n/a
DC	2,518	2,692	4,160	4,450	n/a
Florida	92,513	95,575	91,954	86,757	82,038
Georgia	28,015	27,642	29,415	30,066	30,330
Hawaii	3,831	3,990	3,756	3,273	3,342
Idaho	1,827	1,919	2,160	2,132	2,348
Illinois	43,409	46,467	45,298	47,717	41,307
Indiana	10,224	10,092	10,382	10,469	n/a
Iowa	5,881	6,728	6,649	6,486	5,829
Kansas	10,543	11,271	10,841	10,642	9,484
Kentucky	3,870	3,912	4,550	4,430	n/a
Louisiana	8,860	6,204	6,833	6,817	8,167
Maine	2,514	2,586	2,611	2,589	n/a
Maryland	37,590	n/a	34,380	34,290	n/a
Massachusetts	27,270	24,246	25,790	24,900	n/a
Michigan	25,209	25,636	24,683	25,970	22,357
Minnesota	13,365	14,065	13,843	11,896	12,388
Mississippi	2,956	2,874	2,870	2,697	2,374

Abortions by State (2005-2009)

Missouri-Wyoming

State

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Missouri	11,619	11,833	11,470	11,508	10,518
Montana	2,155	2,119	2,238	2,125	2,223
Nebraska	3,173	2,927	2,481	2,813	2,551
Nevada	10,565	11,471	10,646	9,983	n/a
NewHampshire	n/a	3,200	3,200	n/a	n/a
New Jersey	31,230	30,986	26,668	28,480	n/a
New Mexico	5,934	6,087	6,036	6,150	n/a
New York	117,944	121,278	120,554	118,381	115,008
North Carolina	27,674	29,430	28,545	27,234	26,123
North Dakota	919	777	795	918	831
Ohio	34,128	32,936	30,859	29,613	28,721
Oklahoma	6,322	6,595	6,319	6,124	6,029
Oregon	11,602	12,246	11,883	10,610	10,801
Pennsylvania	34,909	36,731	36,663	38,807	37,284
Rhode Island	3,918	3,690	4,820	4,134	n/a
South Carolina	11,919	13,114	12,838	10,917	11,656
South Dakota	805	748	707	848	769
Tennessee	13,154	14,615	14,789	14,241	13,638
Texas	77,374	82,056	81,079	81,591	77,850
Utah	3,556	3,753	3,932	3,911	3,665
Vermont	1,620	1,611	1,583	1,494	n/a
Virginia	25,822	27,024	27,292	27,410	26,356
Washington	24,161	24,790	24,735	24,279	22,642
West Virginia	1,674	2,037	1,853	1,744	n/a
Wisconsin	9,566	9,352	8,099	8,008	8,299
Wyoming	904	275	839	275	129

Source: AGI, CDC

Abortions per 1,000 women

(Ages 15 to 44)

1973 –16.3

1977 - 26.4

1981 - 29.3

1985 - 28.0

1989 - 26.8

1993 - 25.0

1997 - 21.9

2001 - 21.1

2005 - 19.4

2008 - 19.6

An American Holocaust

U.S. Abortion Statistics

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