LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) – In 2021, 625,978 legal abortions were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The information was provided by central health agencies for 46 states, the District of Columbia and New York City, yielding a patchwork picture of lives lost to abortion in the United States.
Reporting abortion data to the CDC is voluntary and state-level reporting requirements vary. The public health agency said it was “unable to report the total number of abortions performed in the United States” in 2021, limited, in part, due to the four states who did not provide data—California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research and policy organization which also publishes abortion data, classifies New Hampshire as “restrictive” when it comes to abortion; the other three states are considered “very protective” of abortion access. In 2020, California alone administered 154,060 abortions, according to Guttmacher; it also estimated 235,690 abortions were performed that year between all four states who did not submit data to the CDC—approximately 25% of all abortions in the U.S. in 2020.
From 2020 to 2021 — among 47 continuously reporting areas that provided data every year during 2012-2021 — the total number of abortions increased 5% (from 592,939 to 622,108 total abortions); the abortion rate increased 5% (from 11.1 to 11.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years); and the abortion ratio increased 4% (from to 197 to 204 abortions per 1,000 live births).
However, those same areas (which excludes the District of Columbia) saw the total number of abortions decrease by 8%, the abortion rate decrease 11% and the abortion ratio decrease 1% between 2012 and 2021.
National Abortions by Demographic
Women in their 20s accounted for more than half of abortions (57%), with those 20-24 accounting for 28.3% of the national total and those aged 25-29 accounting for 18.7%. Adolescents under 15 and women 40 and over accounted for the lowest percentages of abortions nationwide (0.2% and 3.6%, respectively).
From 2012 to 2021, abortion rates decreased among all age groups except women aged 30-34 for whom it increased; the decrease was highest among adolescents.
Non-Hispanic White women and non-Hispanic Black women accounted for the highest percentages of abortions (30% and 41%, respectively). White women also had the lowest abortion rate and ratio, while Black women had the highest abortion rate and ratio.
Only 41 areas reported gestational age at the time of abortion, and in those regions more than 80% of abortions were performed at or before 9 weeks’ gestation, and more than 93% were performed at or before 13 weeks’ gestation.
The majority of abortions (53%) were performed by early medication abortion at or before 9 weeks’ gestation; surgical abortions up to 13 weeks’ gestation accounted for 37% of abortions and surgical procedures performed after 13 weeks’ gestation accounted for 6%. Three percent of pregnancies were terminated with medication after 9 weeks’ gestation, and all other methods were uncommon (less than 0.1%).
Using national Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System data, which reviews pregnancy-related deaths, the CDC reported six women who died as a result of legal induced abortions in 2020, the most recent year data was available.
The CDC on Abortion in Kentucky
According to the CDC, Kentucky had an abortion rate of 5.2% and abortion ratio of 85 terminated pregnancies per 1,000 live births in 2021. Around 15% of those abortions were obtained by out-of-area residents.
The CDC surveillance report provided more detailed information on abortions performed on adolescents than Kentucky’s annual abortion report compiled by the state’s Department of Public Health:
- Around 46% (173) of teen abortions were obtained by 19-year-olds
- 18-year-olds accounted for 98 abortions (26% of teen abortions)
- Forty-six abortions were performed on 17-year-olds
- 15- and 16-year-olds accounted for 20 and 26 teen abortions, respectively
- Fourteen abortions were performed on girls younger than 15
The CDC also broke down the abortion method by type and gestational age; Kentucky’s records list those factors separately. Around 40% of abortions were performed surgically at or before 13 week’s gestation; 8.6% were surgical procedures occurring after 13 weeks’ gestation. The rest—2,271—were reported as medication-induced abortions occurring up to 9 weeks’ gestation.
Around 34% of abortions in Kentucky were performed on women with zero previous live births, while 1,177 women reported one prior live birth, 988 reported two prior live births and 473 reported three prior live births. Over 280 (6.4%) reported four or more live births prior to a 2021 abortion.
A majority of women (2,843, or 64%) reported no previous induced abortions in 2021. Just over 1,000 had one previous abortion, 361 had two previous abortions and 236 reported three or more previous abortions.
The CDC has conducted abortion surveillance since 1969 to document the number and characteristics of women obtaining legal induced abortions in the U.S. Previous reports can be viewed here.
Friends of Life KY 