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         1,429,247

1991         1,556,500         1,388,937

1992         1,528,900         1,359,146

1993         1,495,000         1,330,414

1994         1,423,000         1,267,415

1995         1,359,400         1,210,883

1996         1,360,160         1,225,937

1997         1,335,000         1,186,039

1998         1,319,000            884,273*

1999         1,314,800            861,789*

2000         1,312,990            857,475 **

2001         1,291,000            853,485 **

2002         1,269,000            854,122 **

2003         1,250,000            848,163***

2004         1,222,100            839,226***

2005         1,206,200

2006-07     1,206,200  §

§   NRLC Base Figure
* excludes NH, CA AK, OK
** excludes NH, CA AK
*** excludes CA, NH, WV

The Consequences of Roe v. Wade
49,551,703
Total Abortions since 1973

Downward Trend Continues

After reaching a high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions annually performed in the U.S. has dropped back to levels not seen since the late 1970s.

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 abortion industry.

The CDC ordinarily develops its annual report on the basis of data received from 52 central health agencies (50 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia). AGI gets its numbers from direct surveys of abortionists.

Because of these different methods of data collection, AGI has consistently obtained higher counts 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 abortionists probably do not report or under-report the abortions they perform. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC and AGI numbers have until recently roughly tracked each other, both sources are thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and statistics. The CDC stopped reporting estimates for some states in 1998, making the discrepancy larger.

Abortions from AK, CA, NH, and OK were not counted in 1998-99 CDC totals, and numbers for AK, CA, and NH were still missing from 2000-2002; CA NH and WV were excluded from 2003 and 2004. For those areas that did report, additional declines were seen between 1998 and 2001, and in 2003-2004. The CDC reported a slight increase in 2002, in contrast with the AGI numbers showing a slight decrease.

AGI’s latest survey confirms a continued downward trend, showing just over 1.2 million abortions for 2005, a drop of 8% from its last full comprehensive survey in 2000. This is the lowest number reported by Guttmacher since 1976.

Using AGI figures through 20053, estimating 1,206,200 abortions for 2006 and 2007, and factoring in the possible 3% undercount AGI estimates for its own figures, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals 49,551,703.