New CDC data shows communities of color are disproportionately targeted for abortion

Abortion disproportionately targeted communities of color in 2019, according to the most recently published national data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While recent pro-abortion messaging insists that abortion is “reproductive justice” for minorities, abortion is actually tethered to eugenics, with birth control and abortion long used to target communities of color.

Total abortions

The CDC collects information provided by states, but due to a broad variety of state requirements on abortions and no federal reporting requirements, the CDC fails to report complete abortion totals. The CDC’s latest report for 2019 showed that 629,898 abortions were voluntarily reported from 49 reporting areas (47 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City, excluding California, Maryland, and New Hampshire). The 2019 data revealed a slight increase of 1.7% in total abortions from the 619,591 recorded in 2018. However, 2019 numbers showed a decrease of 1.3% from the 638,169 abortions recorded in 2015, and nearly 18% lower than what was recorded in 2010 (765,751).

The most recent data on race published by Planned Parenthood’s former “special affiliate,” the Guttmacher Institute, is from 2014. “White patients accounted for 39% of abortion procedures in 2014, black patients for 28%, Hispanic patients for 25%, and patients of other races and ethnicities for 9%,” it states.

While abortion data from Guttmacher was updated in 2017, the organization has not released data by race for 2017, 2018, or 2019.

Reporting areas

In 2019, CDC data on race and ethnicity were gathered from 30 reporting areas — one fewer reporting area than those reporting on race/ethnicity in 2018.

According to the CDC, this data “excludes 22 reporting areas (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York City, New York State, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin) that did not report, did not report by race/ethnicity, or did not meet reporting standards.”

Black women accounted for the highest percentage of abortions

In 2019, while the percentage of abortions among white women fell (38.7% in 2018 to 33.4% of all reported abortions in 2019), the percent of abortions among Black women increased over 14% (when comparing raw numbers of Black abortions year to year), and increased from 33.6% of all reported abortions in 2018 to 38.4% of all reported abortions in 2019 — the highest percentage reported in several years.

In addition, the percentage of abortions among Hispanic women also grew by 5% (when comparing raw numbers of Hispanic abortions year to year), and increased from 20% of all reported abortions in 2018 to 21% of all reported abortions in 2019.

Population data published by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reveals that Black and Hispanic women accounted for a disproportionate percentage of abortions in 2019.

• White Americans made up 60.1% of the population but accounted for 33.4% of abortions.
• Black Americans made up 12.2% of the population but accounted for 38.4% of the abortions.
• Hispanic Americans made up 18.5% of the population and accounted for 21% of abortions.

Black women had more abortions than other races

The number of abortions categorized under race/ethnicity and reported to CDC in 2019 totaled 345,929. However, Live Action News has estimated abortion totals below by using the percentages from the 30 areas that reported abortion data by race or ethnicity in 2019, against the total of 629,898 abortions reported to the CDC for 2019:

• White women: (33.4%) 210,386 estimated abortions
• Black women: (38.4%) 241,880 estimated abortions
• Hispanic women: (21.0%) 132,279 estimated abortions
• Non-Hispanic women in the other race category: (7.2%) 45,353 estimated abortions

Black women had the highest abortion rate

“Non-Hispanic White women had the lowest abortion rate (6.6 abortions per 1,000 women) and ratio (117 abortions per 1,000 live births), and non-Hispanic Black women had the highest abortion rate (23.8 abortions per 1,000 women) and ratio (386 abortions per 1,000 live births),” the CDC also report notes.

In 2019, while the Black abortion rate dropped nearly 29% from the 33.5 rate recorded in 2008, it ticked up nearly 13% from the 21.2 reported in 2018. The Black abortion ratio rose over 15% from 335 recorded in 2018 but has decreased 20% from 483 recorded in 2010.

Likewise, the Hispanic abortion rate also increased in 2019 to 11.7, up from the 10.9 recorded in 2018, but has dropped 43% from a high of 20.6 recorded in 2008. While the Hispanic abortion ratio rose nearly 8% (158 recorded in 2018 to 170 in 2019), it fell 22% from 218 recorded in 2010.

Black and Hispanic births

National Vital Statistics data published by the CDC for 2019 reveals 3,747,540 total births were recorded that year. Births by race and ethnicity break down as follows:

• White 1,915,912
• Black 548,075
• Hispanic 886,467

In Summary:

White abortions

In 2019, white Americans made up 60.10% of the population, but accounted for 33.4% of abortions, for an estimated 210,386 abortions in 2019. White Americans saw a decrease in their abortion percentage from recent years, while experiencing an increase in their abortion rate in 2019. According to the CDC, “Non-Hispanic White women had the lowest abortion rate (6.6 abortions per 1,000 women) and ratio (117 abortions per 1,000 live births).”

An estimated 576 abortions were committed on white women every single day in 2019.

Black abortions

Black Americans made up 12.2% of the population but accounted for 38.4% of abortions, for an estimated 241,880 abortions in 2019. A total of 548,075 Black births were recorded in the United States in 2019, with an average of nearly 1,502 Black babies born daily. In 2019, there were 23.8 abortions per 1,000 Black women aged 15–44 years, and 386 abortions per 1,000 live births.

Strikingly, the Black abortion rate was nearly 3.6 times higher than the white abortion rate (23.8 v. 6.6) and twice as high as the Hispanic abortion rate (23.8 v 11.7). The Black abortion ratio was more than 3.3 times higher than the white abortion ratio (386 v. 117) and more than 2.25 times higher than the Hispanic abortion ratio (386 v. 170).

Black abortions in 2019 outnumbered the top eight leading causes of death (239,241) for Black Americans in 2018 combined (2019 cause of death data is not yet available). Black abortion numbers (estimated) were over 25 times greater than homicides committed on Black Americans (241,880 v. 9,608) in 2018.

While the CDC has not broken down abortions by race for 2017, we estimate that in the past decade (2010 to 2019), nearly 2.2 million Black babies lost their lives due to abortion. An estimated 663 abortions were committed on Black women each day.

Hispanic abortions

Hispanic Americans made up 18.5% of the population but accounted for 21% of abortions, for an estimated 132,279 abortions in 2019. There were 11.7 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women aged 15–44 years, and 170 abortions per 1,000 live births. There were 886,467 Hispanic births recorded in 2019, an average of 2,429 babies born to Hispanic mothers every day.

The Hispanic abortion rate was nearly 1.8 times higher than white abortion rate (11.7 v. 6.6), and the Hispanic abortion ratio was more than 1.45 times higher than the white abortion ratio (170 v. 117).

Hispanic abortions in 2019 (132,279 estimated) outnumbered the top six leading causes of death (128,495) for Hispanic Americans in 2018 combined (2019 causes of death data has not been published yet).

Tragically, an estimated 362 abortions were committed on Hispanic women every day that same year.

Advocates of abortion often paint the killing of preborn minority children as a solution to poverty, or as a stepping stone out of a life of poverty. But the facts simply do not bear this out.

This eugenic philosophy of abortion has little to do with helping poor or minority communities and instead serves only to eliminate them.

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