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Worldwide Abortion Statistics

Q: How many abortions are performed worldwide each year?

  • According to the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, there were approximately 42 million induced abortions worldwide in 2003, that last year for which figures are available. That's more than one per second.

  • According to the pro-life group LIFE International, most abortion occur outside the US and Canada: 96%.

  • 35 countries have a higher abortion rate than the US. Most of the world's pregnancy care centers are located in the US.

  • More than half (26 million) occur in Asia, the world's most populous region; 9 million of these take place in China.
  •  Women in the former Soviet Union have a high rate of abortion, 181 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 1987, or roughly 60 percent of all pregnancies ending in abortion. 

  • The average Russian woman has three to eight abortions in her lifetime. The rate of abortion in Russia is four times higher than that of the U.S.

  • Since the fall of Communism in Romania, 78 percent of all pregnancies are aborted.

  • There is a worldwide trend toward liberalizing abortion laws.

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