The Difference is Life – Primary, nationwide abortion statistics for the United States are available from two sources—privately from the Guttmacher Institute (AGI) and publicly from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
In recent years, California, Maryland, and New Hampshire have not publicly released their abortion totals—rendering the CDC numbers incomplete.
The following information has been gleaned from both sources to provide an overview of the frequency and demography of abortion.
Additional, secondary statistics have been taken from the National Abortion Federation’s (NAF) 2009 teaching text on abortion, Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy: Comprehensive Abortion Care.
The state of Florida records a reason for every abortion that occurs within its borders each year. In 2015, there were 71,740 abortions in Florida. This list fives each reason and the percentage of abortions that occurred because of it:
- 0.001% – The pregnancy resulted from an incestuous relationship
- 0.065% – The woman’s life was endangered by the pregnancy
- 0.085% – The woman was raped
- 0.288% – The woman’s physical health was threatened by the pregnancy
- 0.294%. – The woman’s psychological health was threatened by the pregnancy
- 0.666% – There was a serious fetal abnormality
- 6.268% – The woman aborted for social or economic reasons
- 92.330% – No reason (elective)
Based on available state-level data, an estimated 908,000 U.S. abortions took place in 2015.
In 2014, 18.9% of U.S. pregnancies (excluding spontaneous miscarriages) ended in abortion.
In 2014, approximately 36.5% of all pregnancies in New York City (excluding spontaneous miscarriages) ended in abortion (CDC).
In 2014, a reported 926,240 abortions took place in the United States, down from 1.06 million in 2011, 1.21 million abortions in 2008, 1.2 million in 2005, 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2011, nearly 53 million legal abortions occurred in the U.S (AGI).
From 2012 to 2013, the total number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 5% (CDC).
The highest number of 2014 abortions occurred in:
- California (157,350)
- New York (119,940)
- Florida (75,990)
The fewest occurred in
- Wyoming (120),
- South Dakota (550)
- North Dakota (1,260) (AGI).
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.
Overall, the number of annual abortions decreased by 6% between 2000 and 2009, with temporary spikes in 2002 and 2006 (CDC).
