Abortion Statistics
United States, 1973-1996

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Percentage of Babies Killed by Abortion

United States, 1973-1996

See table below for raw numbers.

30%
20%
10%
  1973 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Abortions, US, 1973-1996

Year Abortions per 1000 women1 per 100 babies2
1973 744,600 16.3 19.3
1974 898,600 19.3 22.0
1975 1,034,200 21.7 24.9
1976 1,179,300 24.2 26.5
1977 1,316,700 26.4 28.6
1978 1,409,600 27.7 29.2
1979 1,497,700 28.8 29.6
1980 1,553,900 29.3 30.0
1981 1,577,300 29.3 30.1
1982 1,573,900 28.8 30.0
19833 1,575,000 28.5 30.4
1984 1,577,200 28.1 29.7
1985 1,588,600 28.0 29.7
19863 1,574,000 27.4 29.4
1987 1,559,100 26.9 28.8
1988 1,590,800 27.3 28.6
19893 1,566,900 26.8 27.5
19903 1,608,600 27.4 28.0
1991 1,556,500 26.3 27.4
1992 1,528,900 25.9 27.5
19933 1,500,000 25.4 27.4
19943 1,431,000 24.1 26.7
1995 1,363,700 22.9 26.0
1996 1,365,700 22.9 26.1
Notes
1. Number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 through 44.
2. Number of abortions per 100 babies conceived. (Not counting miscarrieages.)
3. Data estimated. (Interpolated from prior and future years.)

In 1995 and 1996, the abortion ratio was 26 abortions per 100 live births plus abortions--i.e., 26% of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) were terminated by abortion. Including an estimate of the number of pregnancies ending in miscarriage† decreases the percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion to 22%. The abortion ratio has fallen since 1990, when it was 28 per 100, but it has not declined as much as the abortion rate because the number of births also dropped somewhat.

Abortion numbers and rates vary widely among the states (Table 2). As is to be expected, the most populous states report the largest numbers of abortions: California (238,000), New York (168,000), Florida (94,000) and Texas (91,000). Since 1992, Florida has replaced Texas as the state with the third most abortions. Wyoming reported the fewest abortions (280), and Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota each reported fewer than 2,000.

Table 2. Number of reported abortions, abortion rate and percentage change in rate, by census division and state in which the abortions occurred, 1992, 1995 and 1996
Census division and state Number Rate* % change 1992– 1996
1992 1995 1996 1992 1995 1996
Total 1,528,930 1,363,690 1,365,730 25.9 22.9 22.9 –12
New England 78,360 71,940 71,280 25.2 23.6 23.5 –7
Connecticut 19,720 16,680 16,230 26.2 23.0 22.5 –14
Maine 4,200 2,690 2,700 14.7 9.6 9.7 –34
Massachusetts 40,660 41,190 41,160 28.4 29.2 29.3 3
New Hampshire 3,890 3,240 3,470 14.6 12.0 12.7 –13
Rhode Island 6,990 5,720 5,420 30.0 25.5 24.4 –19
Vermont 2,900 2,420 2,300 21.2 17.9 17.1 –19
Middle Atlantic 300,450 278,310 270,220 34.6 32.7 32.0 –8
New Jersey 55,320 61,130 63,100 31.0 34.5 35.8 16
New York 195,390 176,420 167,600 46.2 42.8 41.1 –11
Pennsylvania 49,740 40,760 39,520 18.6 15.5 15.2 –18
East North Central 204,810 185,800 190,050 20.7 18.9 19.3 –7
Illinois 68,420 68,160 69,390 25.4 25.6 26.1 3
Indiana 15,840 14,030 14,850 12.0 10.6 11.2 –7
Michigan 55,580 49,370 48,780 25.2 22.6 22.3 –11
Ohio 49,520 40,940 42,870 19.5 16.2 17.0 –13
Wisconsin 15,450 13,300 14,160 13.6 11.6 12.3 –9
West North Central 57,340 48,530 48,660 14.3 11.9 11.9 –16
Iowa 6,970 6,040 5,780 11.4 9.8 9.4 –17
Kansas 12,570 10,310 10,630 22.4 18.3 18.9 –16
Minnesota 16,180 14,910 14,660 15.6 14.2 13.9 –11
Missouri 13,510 10,540 10,810 11.6 8.9 9.1 –21
Nebraska 5,580 4,360 4,460 15.7 12.1 12.3 –22
North Dakota 1,490 1,330 1,290 10.7 9.6 9.4 –13
South Dakota 1,040 1,040 1,030 6.8 6.6 6.5 –4
South Atlantic 269,200 261,990 263,600 25.9 24.6 24.7 –5
Delaware 5,730 5,790 4,090 35.2 34.4 24.1 –32
District of Columbia 21,320 21,090 20,790 138.4 151.7 154.5 12
Florida 84,680 87,500 94,050 30.0 30.0 32.0 7
Georgia 39,680 36,940 37,320 24.0 21.2 21.1 –12
Maryland 31,260 30,520 31,310 26.4 25.6 26.3 0
North Carolina 36,180 34,600 33,550 22.4 21.0 20.2 –10
South Carolina 12,190 11,020 9,940 14.2 12.9 11.6 –19
Virginia 35,020 31,480 29,940 22.7 20.0 18.9 –16
West Virginia 3,140 3,050 2,610 7.7 7.6 6.6 –14
East South Central 54,060 44,010 46,100 14.9 12.0 12.5 –17
Alabama 17,450 14,580 15,150 18.2 15.0 15.6 –15
Kentucky 10,000 7,770 8,470 11.4 8.8 9.6 –16
Mississippi 7,550 3,420 4,490 12.4 5.5 7.2 –42
Tennessee 19,060 18,240 17,990 16.2 15.2 14.8 –8
West South Central 127,070 119,200 120,610 19.6 18.0 18.1 –8
Arkansas 7,130 6,010 6,200 13.5 11.1 11.4 –15
Louisiana 13,600 14,820 14,740 13.4 14.7 14.7 10
Oklahoma 8,940 9,130 8,400 12.5 12.9 11.8 –5
Texas 97,400 89,240 91,270 23.1 20.5 20.7 –10
Mountain 69,600 63,390 67,020 21.0 17.9 18.6 –12
Arizona 20,600 18,120 19,310 24.1 19.1 19.8 –18
Colorado 19,880 15,690 18,310 23.6 18.0 20.9 –12
Idaho 1,710 1,500 1,600 7.2 5.8 6.1 –15
Montana 3,300 3,010 2,900 18.2 16.2 15.6 –14
Nevada 13,300 15,600 15,450 44.2 46.7 44.6 1
New Mexico 6,410 5,450 5,470 17.7 14.4 14.4 –19
Utah 3,940 3,740 3,700 9.3 8.1 7.8 –16
Wyoming 460 280 280 4.3 2.7 2.7 –37
Pacific 368,040 290,520 288,190 38.7 30.5 30.1 –22
Alaska 2,370 1,990 2,040 16.5 14.2 14.6 –11
California 304,230 240,240 237,830 42.1 33.4 33.0 –22
Hawaii 12,190 7,510 6,930 46.0 29.3 27.3 –41
Oregon 16,060 15,590 15,050 23.9 22.6 21.6 –10
Washington 33,190 25,190 26,340 27.7 20.2 20.9 –24
*Abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44. Note: In this and subsequent tables, numbers of abortions are rounded to the nearest 10. Sources: 1992--reference 1; 1995–1996--sources to Table 1.

The highest abortion rates by state of occurrence were in Nevada (45 abortions per 1,000 female residents aged 15–44), New York (41) and New Jersey (36), and rates were above 30 per 1,000 in California and Florida as well (Table 2). The rate for the District of Columbia (155 per 1,000) was higher than that of any state; relatively high rates are characteristic of central cities generally, and the rate includes large numbers of women from outside the District who seek abortion services there.9 The census divisions with the highest rates are those on the East and West Coasts: the Middle Atlantic, Pacific, South Atlantic and New England states.

Five states had abortion rates below eight per 1,000: Idaho (6), Mississippi (7), South Dakota (7), West Virginia (7) and Wyoming (3). All of these states are mostly rural, with no large metropolitan areas. Among the census divisions, rates were lowest in the East South Central and West North Central states.

Between 1992 and 1996, the abortion rate declined 12% nationally, and it decreased in 43 of the 50 states (based on state of occurrence). Declines were greatest in the Pacific census division (22%), with a fall of 41% in Hawaii, 24% in Washington and 22% in California. Decreases also were especially large in Mississippi, Wyoming, Maine, and Delaware. In Mississippi and Maine, the largest abortion provider closed between 1992 and 1996, and in Delaware one of the two largest closed. The only two areas that recorded an increase in the abortion rate of more than 10%--New Jersey and the District of Columbia--had more providers in 1996 than in 1992. (Improved reporting may also have been a factor in New Jersey.)

However, abortion rates by state of occurrence should be interpreted cautiously, because they do not always reflect the extent of abortions obtained by residents, who may travel out-of-state for services. For example, in 1992, the most recent year for which such calculations have been made, the number of Wyoming residents who had abortions in other states was more than twice the number of residents who had abortions in the state. In Idaho, Missouri and West Virginia, the abortion rate among state residents was more than 40% higher than the rate based on the abortions occurring in the state. By the same token, abortion rates are inflated in the states that provide services to large numbers of out-of-state women. In 1992, the rates by state of residence were 26–48% lower than the rates by state of occurrence in the District of Columbia, Kansas and Vermont.

Respondents were asked how many early medical abortions they had performed. Assuming that nonrespondents provided them at the same rate as respondents, approximately 4,200 medical abortions were performed in 1996 and 4,300 in the first half of 1997, indicating a rapid increase in the use of the method.

Respondents also were asked if they were aware of physicians in their community who did not provide surgical abortion services but who had begun to perform medical abortions. The few who answered in the affirmative were recontacted and asked the names of the physicians. In many cases, the respondents had misunderstood the question and did not in fact know of any such providers. Only one respondent named a physician whose office confirmed that medical abortions were provided, and one named a physician who denied performing any abortions. Six respondents had reason to believe physicians in their community performed medical abortions, but refused to supply the names because they felt they would be betraying a confidence if they told us. Six others said they had heard rumors but did not know the names of the physicians. Seven could not be reached.

  • Dilation and extraction procedures. In view of the ongoing controversies around so-called partial-birth abortions, we wanted to shed light on the number of such abortions that were actually performed. "Partial-birth" abortion, however, is a nonmedical term that has been variably described in the popular press and in legislation, and would be difficult for respondents to interpret. On the questionnaire, therefore, we used the medically accepted term, intact dilation and extraction (D&X), as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG),** which is the only procedure that approximates the various descriptions of "partial-birth" abortion.

    Eight respondents reported that they had performed a total of 363 D&X abortions in 1996 and 201 during the first half of 1997, and one other physician reported using the procedure. But several of them reported that they had difficulty estimating the exact number of abortions they had performed that met all components of the definition. Some D&X abortions were undoubtedly performed in facilities that did not return our questionnaire;††if nonrespondents used the procedure at the same rate as responding facilities, we can project that 14 providers performed a total of about 650 D&X abortions in 1996. However, projecting from such a small number of cases can result in a wide range of possible error.

    Respondents were asked the minimum and maximum gestation at which they perform D&X abortions. The most common minimum gestation was 20 weeks (counting from the last menstrual period), and the most common maximum was 24 weeks. Only two of the nine respondents used the procedure before 20 weeks, one as early as 16 weeks and another 18 weeks. Similarly, only two said their maximum gestation was more than 24 weeks, one 26 weeks and one 33 weeks.‡‡ Thus, the large majority of D&X abortions were performed at 20 to 24 weeks.

    Source: Henshaw, Stanley K. "Abortion Incidence and Services in the United States, 1995-1996". Family Planning Perspectives, 30:6, Nov/Dec 1998.

    Counts of abortions are based on the Guttmacher Institute's survey of abortionists. Guttmacher is a strongly pro-abortion organization. Their counts are typically about 10% higher than government figures, because they are based on direct reporting by friendly organizations, while the government numbers come indirectly through state health departments, with varying degress of vigor in pursuit of complete numbers.

    Number of women of child-bearing age comes from US Census figures. Numbers of births come from the National Center for Health Statistics (a US government agency).

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    Posted 16 Sep 2000.

    6 Feb 1999.
    Copyright 1999 by Ohio Right to Life
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