Abortion Statistics

Q: How many abortions are performed in the U.S. each year?

A: There are two sources for this information: the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both yield different figures. Here's a summary of abortion statistics from 1970 to the latest for which data is available:

Year
AGI
CDC
1970
n/a
193,491
1971
n/a
485,816
1972
n/a
586,760
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
1,388,937
1990
1,608,600
1,429,577
1991
1,556,500
1,288,937
1992
1,528,900
1,359,145
1993
1,500,000
1,330,414
1994
1,435,000
1,267,415
1995
1,400,000
1,210,883
1996
1,370,000
1,221,585
1997
1,330,000
1,186,039


Sources:

"Facts in Brief: Induced Abortion," The Alan Guttmacher Institute
(http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html), revised 2/2000; "Abortion Surveillance: United States, 1997," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (49:SS11), 12/8/00 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss4911a1.htm).

See http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/index.html for additional data and analysis.

Please note: The data from the Alan Guttmacher Institutes comes directly from abortion providers. They allow for four to six percent underreporting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a U.S. government agency deriving its data from state health departments. Not every state requires abortion reporting, therefore CDC figures are consistently less than those from AGI. The pro-life movement must depend on abortion providers for this information. Baptists for Life has no means of vouching for its accuracy.