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. Click here for a document compiling abortion statistics from 1970 to the latest date (2005) for which data is available.

Sources: Guttmacher Institute - "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services, 2005," Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 40, Number 1, March 2008 http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/4000608.pdf (accessed 1/22/09); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - "Abortion Surveillance - United States, 2005," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, November 28, 2008, Vol. 57, No. SS-13, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5713.pdf (accessed 1/22/09)

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.