The number of abortions performed in the United States increased between 2017 and 2020, reversing a 30-year trend, according to figures released on Wednesday.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that advocates for abortion rights, said its data showed 930,160 abortions took place in 2020, an 8% increase from the 862,320 carried out in 2017 — the lowest number since 1973, when the Supreme Court federalized abortion rights with its Roe v. Wade ruling.
The report pointed out that about one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020.
The statistics were released as the Supreme Court stood on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade following the publication last month of a leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. A final decision on the matter is expected later this month.
The report also indicated that while there were nearly four times as many births (3.6 million) as abortions (930,000) between 2017 and 2020, the US experienced a 6% decline in births over the same period — meaning fewer people were getting pregnant and a larger proportion of those who did chose to have an abortion.
A new study says abortions increased by 8 percent from 2017 to 2020. AFP via Getty ImagesThe number of abortions increased in all four regions of the country — with the largest increase (12%) in the West, followed by the Midwest (10%), South (8%) and Northeast (2%).
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, abortions were disrupted because some health care systems were dealing with severe outbreaks of the disease while some states tried to ban the procedure, arguing it wasn’t part of essential health care.
At the same time, other states expanded Medicaid coverage for abortion, allowing poor or low-income women access who previously couldn’t afford it.
Abortions increased in all four regions of the country, with the biggest increase occurring in the West. APIn New York, the report said, abortions increased 5% between 2017 and 2019, but then declined 6% between 2019 and 2020.
The Empire State was one of the first in the country to experience the ravages of COVID-19, and at least 10% of clinics reported pausing or stopping abortion services in 2020.
In Mississippi, which has just one abortion provider, the procedure jumped 40% in that three-year period.
The number of abortions in Texas rose 7% between 2017 and 2019, then fell between 2019 and 2020, the report said, attributing the decrease to broad COVID-19 restrictions from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that deemed abortion services “nonessential” health care at the onset of the pandemic.
