Abortion Statistics

Abortions are not rare. More than 62 million abortions are estimated to have happened in America since 1973, and more than 30,000 happen every year in Michigan. Both national and Michigan statistics are available that give details on who has abortions and where they occur.

National Abortion Statistics

According to the latest estimates from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, there were 930,160 induced surgical and medical abortions performed during 2020 in the United States. That figure is down 42 percent from their high in 1990, when an estimated 1.61 million abortions were performed. From 1973 to 2020 the Guttmacher Institute has estimated a total of 60,024,540 abortions (no data was released for 2018).

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also monitors abortions in the United States. Since 1997 they have received incomplete results or no abortion statistics from various states including Maryland, California, and New Hampshire. The latest figures from the CDC were 620,327 abortions in 2020. A total of 47,757,895 abortions have been reported to the CDC from 1973 to 2020.

Using the Guttmacher Institute numbers, we estimate there have been more than 61 million abortions in the United States from 1973 through 2021.

According to the CDC, 24.1 percent of the women who had abortions in 2020 had obtained an abortion previously in their life. 18.3 percent of women who aborted had two or more previous abortions.

In 2020, 39.2 percent of abortions were performed on non-Hispanic Black women. Only 12.4 percent of the U.S. population is non-Hispanic Black according to the 2020 census.

CDC report
Guttmacher report
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Michigan Abortion Statistics

From the latest MDHHS Report:

A total of 30,120 induced abortions were reported in Michigan in 2022, which was a 0.2 percent increase from the total of 30,074 reported in 2021 and a 38.7 percent decrease since 1987 (the year with the largest number of induced abortions).

Michigan residents received 90.8 percent of the induced abortions that occurred in Michigan in 2022. This proportion decreased 3.7 percent compared with previous years.

In 2022, less than half of the resident women receiving abortions had no previous induced abortions. In general, from 1985 through 2022, a gradual increase has been observed with the proportion of women reporting two or more induced abortions, going from 14.6 percent in 1985 to 26.4 percent in 2022. The proportion of women who had no previous induced abortion has generally declined, falling from 59.5 percent in 1985 to 49 percent in 2022.

In 2022, 85.4 percent of the Michigan women who obtained an induced abortion were not married, a 3.0 percent increase from the 82.4 percent reported in 1985.

65.3 percent of the Michigan resident women obtaining induced abortions in 2022 had a previous term pregnancy. Of the women who had a previous term pregnancy, 61.0 percent in 2022 had at least two or more term pregnancies.

35 percent of Michigan residents receiving induced abortions were under 25 years of age, while 7.9 percent were younger than 20 years old. These are much smaller proportions than the 64.6 and 30.6 percent observed, respectively, in 1985.

Full report
County data
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Additional Resources

Making Sense of 62 Million: The Sound of Abortion
The Sound of Abortion is a popular YouTube video. Using only a microphone, metal BBs, and a tin can, prolife speaker Peter Heck puts the lives lost to abortion in America since 1973 into perspective.

 

Abortions in the Black Community
Abortion has a disparate impact on the Black community. Statistics in the United States and Michigan back up evidence that abortion providers target poor and minority communities for business purposes. Learn more about the numbers.

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Abortions in the Hispanic Community
This bilingual factsheet provides statistics for Hispanic abortions in the United States.

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Additional Factsheets on Abortion Statistics
Right to Life of Michigan has many factsheets available that give greater detail on several topics involving abortion statistics, nationally and in Michigan. Please visit our factsheets page for more information.

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