Abortion Statistics

Abortions per year in the United States
               (AGI)            (CDC)
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    1,396,658
1990    1,608,600    1,429,577
1991    1,556,500    1,388,937
1992    1,528,900    1.359,145
1993    1,500,000    1,330,414
1994    1,431,000    1,267,415
1995    1,363,690    1,210,883
1996    1,365,730    1,221,585
1997    1,365,730       (NRLC estimate)
1998    1,365,730       (NRLC estimate.)
1999    1,365,730       (CIRTL estimate.)
total    38,269,010
       39,417,080       with AGI 3% undercounting factor
       40,565,151       with AGI 6% undercounting factor

Two independent sources confirm this decline: the government's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI, Planned Parenthood's special research affiliate monitoring trends in the abortoin industry.

The CDC -Centers for Disease Control - develops its annual report on the basis of data that it receives from 52 central health agencies (50 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia). AGI gets its numbers from direct surveys of abortion providers.

Because of these different methods of data collection, AGI consistently obtains higher numbers of abortion than the CDC. CDC researchers have admitted it probably undercounts the total number of abortions because reporting laws vary from state to state, and some abortion providers probably do not report or underreport the numbers of abortions they perform. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC and AGI numbers have always roughly paralleled each other, both sources are thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and statistics.

According to the CDC's annual abortion report appearing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of December 4, 1998, the number of abortions performed in the U.S. in 1996 was 1,221,585, an increase of .911% from 1995, but still lower than any other year since 1978.

Recent AGI figures confirm this general downward trend. In the November/December, 1998 issue of Family Planning Perspectives, an AGI study reported 1,365,730 abortions in 1996. This is an increase of just 15% from the 1995 total, but still a full 15% below the 1990 high of over 1.6 million.

Using AGI figures and estimates through 1996, and estimating 1,365,730 for 1997, 1998, and 1999, and factoring in the possible 3% - 6% undercount AGI estimates for its own figures, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. from 1973 through 1999 is between 39,417,080 and 40,565,151.

Based on numbers and estimates reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute 1973-1996, with NRLC estimates of 1,365,730 for 1997 and 1998 and CIRTL estimate of 1,365,730 for 1999. AGI estimates a possible 3% - 6% underreporting rate, which is factored into the total.
Source for statistics for 1973 through 1992: Stanley K. Henshaw, et al.,"Abortion Services in the United States, 1991 and 1992," Family Planning Perspectives, vol.26, no.3 (May/June 1994), p.101.