U.S. Abortion Statistics By Year (1973-Current)

Pregnant woman with ultrasound scan

National Right to Life Committee, 2023

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ROE V. WADE

TOTAL ABORTIONS SINCE 1973:
64,443,118

Based on numbers reported by the Guttmacher Institute 1973-2020,  with 3 percent added for GI estimated possible 3-5 percent undercount for 1973-2014. Another 12,000 per year added for 2015-2017 for abortions from “providers” GI says it may have missed in 2015-2017 counts.  2022 estimate projects drops from states with trigger laws since Dobbs [1/23]

Reported Annual Abortions 1973-2020

There are two basic courses on abortion data in the U.S.:

  • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes yearly, but relies on voluntary reports from state health departments (and New York City, Washington, D.C.). It has been missing data from California, New Hampshire, and at least one other state since 1998.
  • The Guttmacher Institute (GI) contacts abortion clinics directly for data but does not always survey every year.
  • Because it surveys clinics directly and includes data from all 50 states, most researchers believe Guttmacher’s numbers to be more reliable, though Guttmacher still believes it may miss some abortions.

While both Guttmacher and the CDC show big drops over the last 30 years, recent years show increases.

  • Total abortions dropped 29.8 percent from 1998 to 2020 with the CDC, and fell 42.2 percent from 1990 to 2020 with GI.
  • The abortion rate for 2020 for GI was 14.4 abortions for every 1,000 women of reproductive (15-44), less than half that of the high of 29.3 in 1981. While up since 2017 (13.5), it is still lower than when abortion was legalized in the U.S. in 1973 (16.3).
  • GI says there were 20.6 abortions for every 100 pregnancies ending in live birth or abortion in 2020, up from 18.3 in 2016, the lowest abortion ratio since 1972.
  • GI says that abortion “providers” rose slightly to 1,603 in 2020 from 1,587 in 2017. The high was 2,918 in 1982.
  • According to the GI, more than half (53 percent) of aboritons were done with chemical abortifacients like mifepristone in 2020. It had been just 16.4 percent as recently as 2008.
  • In June 2022, Dobbs overturned Roe, activating “trigger laws” in some states offering the unborn full protection or otherwise limiting abortion. Many clinics closed, but some women went to other states or ordered abortion pills online.

Reported Annual Abortions – 1973-2022

 

YEAR GI CDC
1973 744,610 615,831
1974 898,570 763,476
1975 1,034,170 854,853
1976 1,179,300 988,267
1977 1,316,700 1,079,430
1978 1,409,600 1,157,776
1979 1,497,670 1,251,921
1980 1,553,890 1,297,606
1981 1,577,340 1,300,760
1982 1,573,920 1,303,980
1983 1,575,000 1,268,987
1984 1,577,180 1,333,521
1985 1,588,550 1,328,570
1986 1,574,000 1,328,112
1987 1,559,110 1,353,671
1988 1,590,750 1,371,285
1989 1,566,900 1,396,658
1990 1,608,600 1,429,247
1991 1,556,510 1,388,937
1992 1,528,930 1,359,146
1993 1,495,000 1,330,414
1994 1,423,000 1,267,415
1995 1,359,400 1,210,883
1996 1,360,160 1,225,937
1997 1,335,000 1,186,039
1998 1,319,000   884,273 *
1999 1,314,800   861,789 *
2000 1,312,990   857,475 *
2001 1,291,000   853,485 *
2002 1,269,000   854,122 *
2003 1,250,000   848,163 *
2004 1,222,100   839,226 *
2005 1,206,200   820,151 *
2006 1,242,200   846,181 *
2007 1,209,640   827,609 *
2008 1,212,350   825,564 *
2009 1,151,600   789,116 *
2010 1,102,670   765,651 *
2011 1,058,490   730,322 *
2012 1,011,000   699,202 *
2013    958,700   664,435 *
2014    926,190   652,639 *
2015    899,500   638,169 *
2016    874,100   623,471 *
2017    862,320   612,719 *
2018    871,806 **   619,591 *
2019    916,160   629,898 *
2020    930,160   620,327 *
2021    930,160 **
2022    900,414 **

* Excludes NH, CA, and at least one other state
** NRLC projection for calculation

Updated: January 2023


National Right to Life — Abortion Statistics: United States Data and Trends, January 2023

The report is available from the National Right to Life Communications Department here: http://www.nrlc.org/uploads/communications/stateofabortion2023.pdf

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Comments

  1. Sheila Puraell : January 17, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    Trying to find abortion stats for 2016, 2017 and 2018

  2. This іs a nice rеview! Certainly a must-reaԁ and an eye-opener!

    It jᥙst hеlped me thanks so much.

  3. Precious J. Blowers : March 10, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    How many babies have been aborted approximately per year in the United States?

    • Christian Life Resources : March 10, 2022 at 5:49 pm

      From the information above: Total abortions fell below 1 million for the first time in 2013 and have continued downward to 862,320 in the most recent figures for 2017.

  4. Scott Bishop : June 25, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    Is the chart shown on this page an original compilation by Christian Life Resources, or is there a link to the data from the Guttmacher Institute and the CDC? I would like to be able to provide a citation to people I interact with that defend abortion. Thank you.

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