Abortion Counts and Rates

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The data presented here are based on the latest statistics available from the Federal government's Centers for Disease Control as of November, 2007. Note that it takes several years for the CDC to compile and publish the statistics, so they are always three to four years behind.

Number of Abortions
(millions)
Sorry, you must have Java to see the graph -- but the raw numbers are below.

Percent of pregnancies ending in abortion
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Characteristic 1972 1976 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Estimated total legal abortions (x1,000)1 587 988 1,298 1,329 1,430 1,389 1,359 1,330 1,267 1,211 1,222 1,186 1,168 1,138 1,123 1,118 1,121 1,113 1,101
Reported legal abortions (x1,000) 882 859 848 844 846 840 831
Abortions per 1000 live births2 180 312 359 354 345 339 335 334 321 311 314 306 264 256 246 246 246 241 238
Abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44 13 21 25 24 24 24 23 23 21 20 20 20 17 17 16 16 16 16 16
Percentage distribution
Residence
In-state 56 90 93 92 92 92 92 91 92 92 92 92 92 91 91 91 91 92 92
Out-of-state 44 10 7 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 18
Age group (years)
<=19 33 32 29 26 22 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 19 18 18 17 17
20-24 33 33 36 35 33 34 35 34 34 33 32 32 32 32 33 33 33 34 33
>=25 35 35 35 39 44 45 45 46 46 47 48 48 48 49 48 49 49 49 50
Race3
White 77 67 70 67 65 64 62 61 61 60 59 58 59 56 57 55 56 55 54
Black 23 33 30 30 32 33 34 35 35 35 35 36 35 37 36 37 37 37 38
Other 4 3 4 5 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 8
Hispanic origin
Hispanic 10 14 15 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 17 17 18 18 22
Non-Hispanic 90 87 85 85 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 83 82 82 79
Marital status
Married 30 25 23 19 22 21 21 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 17
Unmarried 70 75 77 81 78 79 79 80 80 80 80 81 81 81 81 82 82 82 83
Number live births4
0 49 49 58 56 49 48 46 46 46 45 44 42 41 41 40 45 40 40 41
1 18 21 19 22 24 25 26 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 28 25 27 27 27
2 13 15 14 15 17 17 18 18 18 18 18 19 20 20 20 18 20 20 20
3 9 8 5 5 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
>=4 10 8 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5
Type of procedure
Suction Curettage 65 83 90 95 96 97 97 96 97 97 97 97 97 96 96 93 90 88 87
Sharp Curettage 23 10 6 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 2 1
Intrauterine instillation 10 6 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1
Other5 1 1 1 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 7 9 11
Weeks of gestation
<=6 34 47 52 50 52 52 14 15 16 16 16 18 19 22 23 25 27 27 28
7 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18
8 22 22 22 21 21 20 19 18 17 16 16 16 15
9-10 31 28 26 27 25 25 24 24 24 23 23 22 22 20 20 19 18 18 18
11-12 18 14 12 13 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 9
13-15 8 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
16-20 8 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
>=21 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
1972 1976 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Notes

1. Alaska, California, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma quit reporting abortions in 1998. West Virginia quit reporting in 2002. Thus, the "reported" row shows the number of abortions reported for 52 "reporting areas" (50 states, DC, and New York City (which reports separately from the rest of the state)) through 1997, but for only 47 reporting areas from 1998 on. (We exclude West Virginia starting with 1998 to give a more consistent set of numbers.) The "adjusted" row is an estimate of what the total would be, assuming the 5 non-reporting states made up the same percentage of total abortions after they quit reporting as they had in the last three years that they did report. (Which was 24.5%, mostly from California.) All other statistics in this chart are based on 52 reporting areas through 1997 and only 47-48 after, so numbers are not strictly comparable.

2. The source of data for the number of live births for the comparison was changed in 1996, so the numbers from 1996 on are not strictly comparable to the numbers before 1996. Also see Note 1 for changes in 1998.

3. Before 1985, statistics were kept as "white" and "non-white". From 1985 on, statistics are kept as "white", "black", and "other".

4. Before 1980, this is number of living children. From 1980 on, this is number of live births before the abortion.

5. "Other" includes hysterotomy and hysterectomy, non-surgical methods, and anything reported as "other". The recent sharp increase is probably mostly RU-486, but the CDC does not report this separately.

Sources:
  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Surveillance Summaries, December 8, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 2000;49 (No. SS-11).

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Surveillance Summaries, November 29, 2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 2002;51 (No. SS-09).

  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Surveillance Summaries, November 28, 2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 2003;52 (No. SS-12).

  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Surveillance Summaries, November 24, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 2006;55 (No. SS-11).

  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Surveillance Summaries, November 23, 2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 2007;56 (No. SS-9).

Pregnant Pause Home Statistics Search this site

Posted Dec 29, 2000. Updated March 8, 2008.

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