The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has released its final report on abortion in the state. After lawmakers approved the 2023 Reproductive Health Act, the requirement that abortionists collect abortion data was removed — including data on abortion complications.
The final report reveals a 3.7% increase in abortions in Michigan from 2022 to 2023, and a total of 31,241 abortions in 2023 — the highest number in three decades, and the seventh year in a row that the state reported an increase. Abortions on out-of-state patients reportedly increased 66% from 2021 to 2022 but fell slightly in 2023. Both in-state and out-of-state women sought abortions in Michigan, according to the report, but there were 11 fewer out-of-state abortions than the previous year.
Michigan reported 1,132 more abortions in 2023 than in 2022, higher than any other year since 1994. Most of the abortions — 28,491 — were committed on Michigan residents, and 55% (17,164) of all of the abortions reported in 2023 were carried out by the abortion pill. The state reported its highest number of abortions ever in 1987 at 49,098.
Bridge Michigan reported in June that Michigan would stop collecting all data on abortions committed within the state (as well as complications resulting from abortions) for the first time in 45 years, as part of the state’s extreme, pro-abortion Reproductive Health Act.
READ: At least 39,000 women treated for DIY abortion complications in five years in UK
Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, told Bridge Michigan that the failure to collect abortion data will put women’s lives at risk. They will no longer have the ability or power to find out information on abortionists or abortion facility health and safety violations or high complication rates.
The lack of data on abortion complications allows abortion advocates to claim that abortion is ‘safe’ for women.
“The removal of the reporting requirement at the same time health and safety regulations for abortion clinics were removed should be of concern to any woman who walks into an abortion facility,” Marnon said.
Dr. Catherine Stark, an OB/GYN and director of the pro-life Crossroads Care Center, agreed, saying, “It’s basic quality assurance. Some people see that the state has a responsibility to its citizens to protect the health and safety of women, especially undergoing medical and surgical procedures.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that accurate abortion data is vital for public health, but according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), in 2024, only three states — Arizona, Indiana, and Kentucky — are collecting all 14 of the data points that the United States Reporting of Induced Termination of Pregnancy (USRITP) handbook recommends. The Guttmacher Institute reports that as of March 1, 2020, only 28 states required that abortion businesses report abortion-related complications.
Michigan is now one of a few states that do not collect any abortion-related data, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute — along with California, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and North Dakota.
