On November 15, pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue released the results of its 2022 Abortion Facility Survey. This survey tracks a wide variety of abortion-related data, including the total number of abortion facilities nationwide, facility numbers by type (surgical/chemical/virtual), average cost of first-trimester abortions, and average wait times between the day an abortion appointment is made and the day the abortion process is begun.
In sum, Operation Rescue found that there are currently 683 abortion facilities/businesses operating in 36 states plus the District of Columbia, the lowest number in nearly five decades. Remarkably, this represents a 68% decrease from 1991, when there were 2,176 US abortion facilities. Eighty-eight (88) abortion facilities have closed or otherwise ceased operations so far in 2022, while 53 new facilities have opened. This represents a net nationwide decrease of 36 abortion facilities. There are 20 fewer facilities committing abortions at 20 weeks or later compared to last year.
Eighty percent (80%) of the facilities that ceased operations were surgical facilities, while 64% of all new abortion facilities are abortion pill sites. There are currently 94 locations using telemedicine to distribute the abortion pill by mail; 14 of these are virtual abortion facilities operating strictly online. These virtual facilities now comprise 15% of the abortion pill market share.
Planned Parenthood, in particular, has closed 16 facilities in 2022 thus far. The abortion corporation’s facilities currently comprise 55% of total US abortion facilities. Broken down by type, Planned Parenthood facilities currently account for 78% of all chemical abortion sites and 38% of all surgical facilities.
Operation Rescue found that the average cost of a first-trimester abortion has been unaffected by inflation, holding steady at $609, the same as in 2021. The average cost of a first-trimester surgical abortion was found to be $638, while the average cost of the abortion pill was $582; however, abortion pills obtained from virtual facilities had a lower average cost, about $491.
The national average wait time for a first-trimester abortion was found to be 9.4 days, with 11 states offering same- or next-day appointments. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman stated: “It was expected that the wait time would increase dramatically as state bans went into effect but, instead, we found that abortion waiting times decreased by a day over last year. Our data shows that the media hue and cry over women having long waits for abortion appointments is just more fake news.”
Commenting on the overall trends observed in this year’s survey, Newman said, “The falling number of abortion facilities translates into lives saved. We celebrate those saved babies, closed clinics, and new Abortion-Free states – something we haven’t seen since 1973 when Roe was first imposed on our nation. However,” he continued, “we remain troubled by the rise in the use of abortion drugs and the irresponsible increase in the distribution of those dangerous pills through the mail. There is still much work to do to protect every innocent life from the barbaric practice of abortion, but we can and should take great encouragement in the hard-won victories that have brought us this far.”
