ABORTIONS…United States Data
and Trends
The Consequences of Roe v.
Wade
Total abortions since 1973…54,559,615
Based on numbers reported by
the Guttmacher Institute 1973-2008, with estimates of 1,212,400 for 2009-2011.
GI estimates a possible 3% under reporting rate, which is factored into the
total.
Reported Annual Abortions 1973 - 2008
YEAR GI
Number CDC Number
1973 744,600 615,831
1974 898,600 763,476
1975 1,034,200 854,853
1976 1,179,300 988,267
1977 1,316,700 1,079,430
1978 1,409,600 1,157,776
1979 1,497,700 1,251,921
1980 1,553,900 1,297,606
1981 1,577,300 1,300,760
1982 1,573,900 1,303,980
1983 1,575,000 1,268,987
1984 1,577,200 1,333,521
1985 1,588,600 1,328,570
1986 1,574,000 1,328,112
1987 1,559,100 1,353,671
1988 1,590,800 1,371,285
1989 1,566,900 1,396,658
1990 1,608,600 1,429,247
1991 1,556,500 1,388,937
1992 1,528,900 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 1,360,200 1,225,937
1997 1,335,000 1,186,039
1998 1,319,000 884,273*
1999 1,314,800 861,789*
2000 1,313,000 857,475*
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 1,209,600 827,609*
2008 1,212,400 825,564*
2009-11 1,212,400 §
§ NRLC base figure
*excludes NH, CA, and at
least one other state
Abortions Level Off After
Decline
After dropping 25% from a
high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions performed annually in
the U.S. has leveled off at about 1.2 million a year. Two independent sources
confirm this latest trend: the government’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and the Guttmacher Institute (GI), which was once a special research affiliate
of abortion chain Planned Parenthood. The CDC ordinarily develops its annual
report on the basis of data received from 52 central health agencies (50 states
plus New York City and the District of Columbia).GI gets its numbers from
direct surveys of abortionists conducted every few years. Because of these
different methods of data collection, GI has consistently obtained higher
counts than the CDC. CDC researchers have admitted it probably undercounts the
total number of abortions because reporting laws vary from state to state and
some abortionists probably do not report or under-report the abortions they
perform. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC and GI numbers
have usually roughly tracked each other, both sources are thought to provide
useful information on abortion trends and statistics. The CDC stopped reporting
estimates for some states in 1998, though, making the discrepancy larger.
Abortions from CA and NH have not been counted by the CDC since 1998, and other
states have been missing from the totals during that time frame: OK in 1998, AK
from 1998 to 2002, WV in 2003 and 2004, LA in 2005 and 2006, MD in 2007 and
2008. For areas that did report, overall declines were seen from 1998 through
2008, though totals ticked up again in 2006.
GI’s latest survey found
slightly higher numbers in 2008, but these may be due to the addition of
abortionists missed in previous surveys. Increasing numbers of chemical
abortions have also helped arrest previous declines.
Using GI figures through
2008, estimating 1,212,400 abortions for 2009 through 2011, and factoring in
the possible 3% undercount GI estimates for its own figures, the total number
of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals 54,559,615.
http://www.nrlc.org/Factsheets/FS03_AbortionInTheUS.pdf