![](3D"http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/nrlcBannernobaby.jpg") |
=A7=A7 NRLC Base Figure
* excludes NH, =
CA AK,=20
OK
** excludes NH, CA AK
*** excludes CA, NH, =
WV
|
Abortion in the United =
States: =20
|
Downward = Trend Continues=20
After = reaching a high of=20 over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions annually = performed in=20 the U.S. has dropped back to levels not seen since the late=20 1970s.
Two = independent sources=20 confirm this decline: the government=92s Centers for Disease = Control (CDC)=20 and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), Planned Parenthood=92s = special=20 research affiliate monitoring trends in the abortion = industry.
The CDC = ordinarily develops=20 its annual report on the basis of data received from 52 central = health=20 agencies (50 states plus New York City and the District of = Columbia). AGI=20 gets its numbers from direct surveys of abortionists.
Because of = these different=20 methods of data collection, AGI has consistently obtained higher = counts=20 than the CDC. CDC researchers have admitted it probably = undercounts the=20 total number of abortions because reporting laws vary from state = to state=20 and some abortionists probably do not report or under-report the = abortions=20 they perform. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC = and AGI=20 numbers have until recently roughly tracked each other, both = sources are=20 thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and = statistics.=20 The CDC stopped reporting estimates for some states in 1998, = making the=20 discrepancy larger.
Abortions = from AK, CA, NH,=20 and OK were not counted in 1998-99 CDC totals, and numbers for AK, = CA, and=20 NH were still missing from 2000-2002; CA NH and WV were excluded = from 2003=20 For those areas that did report, additional declines were seen = between=20 1998 and 2001, and in 2003. The CDC reported a slight increase in = 2002, in=20 contrast with the AGI numbers showing a slight = decrease.
The AGI = figures for 2001=20 -2003 are estimates based on abortion reports from over 40 states, = and=20 show a downward trend. AGI estimates that abortions decreased in = 2003, to=20 the lowest number since 1976.
Using AGI = figures through=20 2003, estimating 1,287,000 abortions for 2004-06, and factoring in = the=20 possible 3% undercount AGI estimates for its own figures, the = total number=20 of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals=20 48,589,993.
![](3D"abortionstats_files/image002.gif") |
|
Based on=20
numbers reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute =
1973-2003, |