CDC Data: Despite slight drop, Black abortion rate still nearly twice as high as Black birth rate

Black and Hispanic women saw a decrease in the number of abortions in 2022, according to recently published abortion data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But despite this positive report, Black women continue to account for a disproportionately higher percentage, rate, and ratio of abortions.

Abortion is tethered to eugenics, and communities of color have historically been targeted with eugenic policies; today, these policies extend to abortion. Abortion advocates often paint the killing of preborn minority children as a solution to poverty, or as a stepping stone out of a life of poverty — or even as “equity.” But in reality, abortion has little to do with helping communities of color by ensuring “equity” — and instead serves to eliminate their weakest members.

In 2022, CDC data revealed:

• Black Americans made up 11.7% of people living in the United States but accounted for 39.5% of abortions. An estimated 664 Black babies are killed by abortion every day; nearly 43 Black babies will die by abortion for every 100 live births.
• White Americans made up 57.7% of people living in the United States but accounted for 31.9% of abortions. An estimated 536 white babies are killed by abortion every day; nearly 11 white babies will die by abortion for every 100 live births.
• Hispanic Americans made up 19.2% of people living in the United States but accounted for 21.2% of abortions. An estimated 356 Hispanic babies are killed by abortion every day, nearly 17 Hispanic babies will die by abortion for every 100 live births. 

Data regarding race/ethnicity on abortion is limited

There are no federal mandates to report all abortions, and only a limited number of states choose to report abortions by race and ethnicity.

The CDC noted:

Only 32 reporting areas reported race and ethnicity data to CDC that met CDC’s reporting standards. Certain areas that either do not report to CDC (e.g., California) or do not report race and ethnicity data (e.g., Illinois) have sufficiently large populations of racial and ethnic minority groups that the absence of data from these areas reduces the representativeness of CDC data for these variables.

“In addition, because of the variability in data collection for race and ethnicity among reporting areas, data for specific racial and ethnic groups beyond Black, White, and Hispanic are not requested or reported,” the CDC claimed.

According to the CDC, in 2022, “20 reporting areas… did not report, did not report by race and ethnicity, or did not meet reporting standards.”

Exclusions for race and ethnicity in 2022 included “Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin. While Arkansas, Connecticut, and New York City were added to the 2022 reporting areas, state such as  New York State, North Dakota, and Rhode Island which reported data in 2021 did not do so in 2022,” the CDC wrote.

Abortion percentages by race

What is particularly interesting about the CDC report is that it reveals that abortion percentages among communities of color decreased in 2022, while percentages among white women increased.

According to the CDC, in 2022, “non-Hispanic White (White) women and non-Hispanic Black (Black) women accounted for the highest percentages of all abortions (31.9% and 39.5%, respectively), and Hispanic women and non-Hispanic women in the other race category accounted for lower percentages (21.2% and 7.3%, respectively) ”

Increases

White women – Up nearly six percent (5.63%), from 30.2% in 2021 to 31.9% in 2022.

“Other” (not Black or Hispanic) – Up over 12% (12.30%), from 6.5% in 2021 to 7.3% in 2022.

Decreases

Black women – Down nearly five percent (4.81%), from 41.5% in 2021 to 39.5% in 2022

Hispanic women – Down nearly three percent (2.75%), from 21.8% in 2021 to 21.2% in 2022.

These numbers were unlike previous years. While CDC data among communities of color for 2022 is shifting in the right direction, more current data from the Guttmacher Institute is still troublesome.

Guttmacher Institute data from 2014 on race previously showed a disproportionate impact on women of color, and this has continued into later years. The most recent data (June 2021–July 2022) on the characteristics of people having clinician-provided abortions in the United States gathered by Guttmacher found that “proportions of people obtaining an abortion were Black (29%), Latinx (30%) or non-Hispanic White (30%). Four percent were Asian and 7% identified as another race or ethnicity or as more than one race.”

In 2021, nearly half of Planned Parenthood’s 2.1 million clients were people of color, with more than 581,000 patients who identified as Latino and more than 360,000 patients who identified as Black. In 2022, the abortion corporation reported serving “more than 400,000 Black patients a year.”

Planned Parenthood does not share statistics regarding how many abortions were sold to women of color.

Total Abortion Estimates: CDC 

Population data published by KFF (Kaiser) indicates that abortion disproportionately impacts communities of color, specifically Black and Hispanic populations. Total abortion estimates by race/ethnicity were calculated by multiplying 2022 abortion percentages reported by the CDC with the total number of abortions (613,383):

• White Americans (57.7% of 2022 population; accounting for 31.9% of abortions in 2022): 195,669 abortions (estimated)
• Black Americans (11.7% of 2022 population; accounting for 39.5% of abortions in 2022): 242,286 abortions (estimated)
• Hispanic Americans (19.2% of 2022 population; accounting for 21.2% of abortions in 2022): 130,037 abortions (estimated)

Between 2010 and 2022 (excluding 2017), it is estimated that nearly 3 million babies have been aborted by Black women.

Abortion Rate and Ratio, CDC

The abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (abortions per 1,000 live births) decreased between 2021 and 2022 among white, Black, and Hispanic women — and only increased among the “other” category.

Between 2021 and 2022:

• The abortion rate for white women (6.4 v 5.7) decreased nearly 11% (10.94%), while abortion ratios (116 v. 106) decreased nearly nine percent (8.62%).
• The abortion rate among Black women (28.6 v 24.4) decreased nearly 15% (14.68%), while abortion ratios (498 v 429 ) decreased nearly 14% (13.86%).
• The abortion rate among Hispanic women (12.3 v 11.6) decreased nearly six percent (5.69%), while abortion ratios (186 v 165) decreased over 11% (11.29%).
• In the “other” category, abortion rates (9.2 v 9.4) and ratios (179 v. 182) actually increased 2.17% and 1.68% respectively.

“White women had the lowest abortion rate (5.7 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (106 abortions per 1,000 live births), and Black women had the highest abortion rate (24.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (429 abortions per 1,000 live births),” CDC wrote of the 2022 data.

Breaking this down further, we found that:

• The Black abortion rate was more than four times higher (4.3) than the white abortion rate (24.4 v 5.7) and over twice as high as the Hispanic abortion rate (24.4 v 11.6).  The Black abortion ratio was nearly four times higher than the white abortion ratio (429 v. 106) and 2.6 times higher than the Hispanic abortion ratio (429 v. 165).
• The Hispanic abortion rate was over two times higher than the white abortion rate (11.6 v. 5.7) and the Hispanic abortion ratio was nearly 1.6 times higher than the white abortion ratio (106 v. 165).

Births v. Abortion

In 2022, 3,667,758 total births were registered in the United States. Out of those, the CDC’s National Vital Statistics system recorded 1,840,739 births among white mothers (9.5% birth rate), 511,439 births among Black mothers (12.3% birth rate), and 937,421 births among Hispanic mothers (14.7% birth rate). Birth rates are births per 1,000 population in each specified group.

In 2022, the Black abortion rate (24.4%) was nearly twice as high (1.98) as the Black birth rate (12.3%). According to the data, while the Black population saw a 12.3% birth rate (births per 1,000 population in specified group) in 2022, they saw whopping 24.4% abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) that same year. And the CDC report tragically claimed there were 429 abortions per 1,000 live births that same year.

In places like New York City, where Black abortions previously outnumbered Black births, the most recent statistics reveal that Black births have outpaced Black abortions in New York City for the past several years. Prior to and including 2016, the data revealed that more Black babies were aborted in NYC than had been born. However, in 2017 that trend began to reverse and continued past 2020 into 2021 (the latest published data). In 2021, NYC documented 17,608 live Black births and 14,959 abortions of Black babies.

Abortion by Gestation, CDC

“In 30 reporting areas, by race and ethnicity, 77.1% of abortions obtained by Black women occurred at ≤9 weeks’ gestation, compared with 79.4% by non-Hispanic women in the other race category, 80.5% by White women, and 81.8% by Hispanic women,” CDC wrote.

“Conversely, 5.3% of abortions obtained by Hispanic women occurred after 13 weeks’ gestation, compared with 6.0% by White women, 6.8% by Black women, and 7.2% by non-Hispanic women in the other race category,” the 2022 CDC report stated.

Abortion Compared to Leading Causes of Death, by Race/Ethnicity

Leading cause of death data has not been published for 2022. However, data for 2021 reveals that COVID-19 ranked overwhelmingly high among the causes of death among white, Black, and Hispanic populations.

Excluding deaths from COVID-19, the data reveals that:

• Black abortions (estimated at 242,286) in 2022 nearly outnumbered the top six leading causes of death, excluding COVID-19 (250,491), for Black Americans in 2021 combined (2022 cause of death data is not yet available). Black abortion numbers (estimated) were nearly 17 times greater than homicides committed on Black Americans (242,286 v. 14,313) in 2021.
• Hispanic abortions (estimated at 130,037) in 2022 nearly outnumbered the top four leading causes of death, excluding COVID-19 (133,791) for Hispanic Americans in 2021 combined (2022 cause of death data is not yet available). Hispanic abortion numbers (estimated) were over 29 times greater than homicides committed on Hispanic Americans (130,037 v. 4,453) in 2021.

CDC Decrease May Be Short Lived

The drop in abortion totals and percentages from the previous year among communities of color reported to the CDC is likely due to the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade mid year (June 2022). During this time, abortion facilities were forced to close or relocate. As Live Action News previously documented, distance to facility has been a factor in convincing women, especially minority women, to participate in abortion.

Unfortunately, this slight decrease may have been short-lived — especially in light of the ease of access to the abortion pill as well as massive abortion and abortion travel funding that exists today.

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