The variety of abortions carried out within the U.S. fell barely in 2022, the 12 months the Supreme Courtroom overruled Roe v. Wade, a brand new federal report discovered.
In 2022, a complete of 613,383 authorized abortions had been reported by 48 areas. Among the many 47 areas that constantly reported knowledge from 2021 to 2022, there was a lower of two% from the 622,108 abortions carried out in 2021 to 609,360, in keeping with the annual abortion surveillance report, printed Wednesday by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
The 48 areas included 46 states, the District of Columbia and New York Metropolis, excluding California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
The abortion charge was 11.2 abortions per 1,000 girls between ages 15 and 44 in 2022, a lower of three% from 11.6 abortions per 1,000 girls the prior 12 months, in keeping with knowledge from 46 states and New York Metropolis.
Charges had been lowest in Missouri and highest New Mexico, respectively, in 2022. After Roe v. Wade was overruled, Missouri handed a near-total abortion ban with restricted exceptions whereas abortions remained unrestricted based mostly on gestational length in New Mexico. Nevertheless, in 2024, Missouri voters accepted an modification enshrining the correct to reproductive freedom within the state structure, together with abortion care.
Dr. Adam Jacobs, medical director of the division of advanced household planning on the Mount Sinai Heath System in New York, mentioned he doesn’t imagine Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being — the Supreme Courtroom choice that led to Roe v. Wade’s overruling — is a significant purpose why abortion charges dropped between 2021 and 2022.
“Lots of the bans didn’t go into place or plenty of the structural modifications didn’t go into place within the calendar 12 months of 2022, so I do not assume you’d see that affect on this report,” he advised ABC Information.
Abortion rights Activists rally exterior the State Capitol in help of abortion rights in Atlanta, Might 14, 2022.
Elijah Nouvelage/AFP through Getty Pictures, FILE
Jacobs mentioned abortion numbers and charges have been reducing for years, and key causes embrace the Reasonably priced Care Act. The legislation offers girls extra entry to preventive companies, together with long-lasting reversible contraception.
The report discovered that ladies of their 20s accounted for greater than half of abortions in 2022 and had the best abortion charges. Comparatively, adolescents beneath age 15 and ladies aged 40 or older accounted for the bottom percentages of abortions and had the bottom abortion charges.
Between 2013 and 2022, abortion charges decreased amongst all age teams besides for girls between ages 30 and 34, for whom charges elevated.
When it got here to breaking down the share of abortions based mostly on gestational age, the report discovered that the majority abortions, or 78.6%, had been carried out at 9 weeks gestation and practically all abortions had been carried out beneath 13 weeks gestation.
Greater than half of abortions had been early medicine ones carried out at or beneath 9 weeks gestation adopted by surgical abortions at or beneath 13 weeks gestation.
Surgical abortions carried out previous 13 weeks gestation accounted for simply 6.9% of all abortions in 2022 and medicine abortion previous 9 weeks gestation accounted for 4.3%.
Black girls accounted for the best share of abortions at 39.5% adopted by white girls at 31.9% and Hispanic girls at 21.2%, in keeping with the report.
Black girls had the best charge at 24.4 abortions per 1,000 girls between ages 15 and 44 and white girls had the bottom charge at 5.7 abortions per 1,000 girls.
Jacobs mentioned that positive aspects have been made in offering care to marginalized teams, however elements together with unequal entry to high quality household planning companies could also be why abortion charges are increased for Black girls in comparison with white girls.
“In case you have entry to extremely efficient contraception, you find yourself having [fewer] unintended pregnancies,” he mentioned.
For 2022, 87.7% of abortions had been amongst single girls in comparison with 12.3% amongst married girls, the report discovered.
Moreover, a plurality of abortions, or 40.6%, had been amongst girls who had by no means had a earlier stay beginning, and a majority, or 56.1%, had been amongst those that had by no means obtained an abortion earlier than.
In 2021, the newest 12 months for which knowledge from the CDC’s Being pregnant Mortality Surveillance System had been reviewed, 5 girls died due to problems from legally induced abortions.
As of Wednesday, 13 states have ceased practically all abortion companies and 4 states have enacted six-week bans, in keeping with an ABC Information tally. In the meantime, 9 states and the District of Columbia don’t have any restrictions based mostly on gestational length.
