Communities of color were again disproportionately affected by abortion in 2020, 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 historically tethered to eugenics, with birth control and abortion used to target communities of color for generations.
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 communities of color and instead serves only to eliminate them.
TOTAL ABORTIONS
The most recently published data on abortion from the CDC is for the year 2020.
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. For 2020, the CDC reported 620,327 legally induced abortions from a total of 49 reporting areas, which voluntarily provided aggregate abortion data to the agency. According to the CDC’s data, abortion numbers decreased slightly in 2020 while abortion pill use has risen a whopping 154% since 2011. (Read more here.)
BLACK AND HISPANIC WOMEN ACCOUNTED FOR DISPROPORTIONATE PERCENTAGE OF ABORTIONS
In 2020, the percentage of abortions among white women fell over two percent, from 33.4% in 2019 to 32.7% in 2020, while the percent of abortions among Black women increased, from 38.4% of all reported abortions in 2019 to 39.2% in 2020 — the highest percentage reported in several years. The percentage of abortions among Hispanic women remained relatively the same, from 21% of all reported abortions in 2019 to 21.1% in 2020.
Population data published by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) was not recorded for 2020, therefore Live Action News used population data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reveals that Black and Hispanic women accounted for a disproportionate percentage of abortions in 2020.
- White Americans made up 61.6% of all people living in the United States in 2020 but accounted for 32.7% of abortions.
- Black Americans made up 12.4% of all people living in the United States in 2020 but accounted for 39.2% of abortions.
- Hispanic Americans made up 18.7% of the U.S. population in 2020 but accounted for 21.1% of abortions.
Abortion (percentages by race ethnicity) disproportionately targets communities of color CDC 2020
BLACK WOMEN HAD MORE ABORTIONS THAN OTHER RACES
The number of abortions categorized under race/ethnicity and reported to the CDC in 2020 totaled just 333,289. This is because the CDC data on race “excluded 22 reporting areas (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York City, New York State, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin) that did not report, did not report by race or ethnicity, or did not meet reporting standards,” the agency wrote.
In New York City, abortions among Black women had previously outpaced births, but that trend has begun to reverse in recent years.
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 2020, against the total of 620,327 abortions reported to the CDC for 2020.
In 2020, the CDC received abortion data by race/ethnicity from 30 reporting areas, and reported the following:
- Non-Hispanic white women – 32.7% (202,847 estimated abortions)
- Non-Hispanic Black women – 39.2% (243,168 estimated abortions)
- Hispanic women – 21.1% (130,889 estimated abortions)
- Non-Hispanic women in the “Other” race category – 7.0% (43,423 estimated abortions)
Black abortion stats by race ethnicity CDC 2020
BLACK WOMEN HAD THE HIGHEST ABORTION RATE AND RATIO
The abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) for white women fell from 6.6 in 2019 to 6.2 in 2020 but the abortion ratio (abortions per 1,000 live births) rose from 117 in 2019 to 118 in 2020.
In 2020, Black women had the highest abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (abortions per 1,000 live births) according to the CDC report. And, while the Black abortion rate has fallen over 27% from the 33.5 rate recorded in 2008, it has ticked up in recent years. In 2020, the Black abortion rate increased nearly 3%, from 23.8 reported in 2019 to 24.4 in 2020. The Black abortion ratio rose over 10%, from 386 reported in 2019 to 426 in 2020, but has decreased nearly 12% from the 483 recorded in 2010.
Likewise, the abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) for Hispanic women fell from 11.7 in 2019 to 11.4 in 2020, a decrease of nearly 45% from the high of 20.6 recorded in 2008. The Hispanic abortion ratio (abortions per 1,000 live births) rose nearly 2% from 170 in 2019 to 173 in 2020, but it has fallen nearly 21% from a record of 218 recorded in 2010.
BLACK AND HISPANIC BIRTHS
National Vital Statistics data published by the CDC for 2020 reveals 3,613,647 total births were recorded that year. Births by race and ethnicity break down as follows:
- White 1,843,432
- Black 529,811
- Hispanic 866,713
IN SUMMARY:
White abortions
In 2020, white Americans made up 61.6% of the population, but accounted for 32.7% of abortions, for an estimated 202,847 abortions in 2020. White Americans saw a decrease in their abortion percentage and their abortion rate from recent years in 2020. According to the CDC, “White women had the lowest abortion rate (6.2 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (118 abortions per 1,000 live births).”
An estimated 556 abortions were committed on white women every day in 2020, according to CDC data.
Black abortions
Black Americans made up 12.4% of the population but accounted for 39.2% of abortions, for an estimated 243,168 abortions in 2020. A total of 529,811 Black births were recorded in the United States in 2020, with an average of nearly 1,452 Black babies born daily. In 2020, there were 24.4 abortions per 1,000 Black women aged 15–44 years, and 426 abortions per 1,000 live births.
Strikingly, the Black abortion rate was nearly four times higher than the white abortion rate (24.4 v. 6.2) and over two times as high as the Hispanic abortion rate (24.4 v 11.4). The Black abortion ratio was more than 3.6 times higher than the white abortion ratio (426 v. 118) and nearly 2.5 times higher than the Hispanic abortion ratio (426 v. 173).
Black abortions (estimated at 243,168) in 2020 outnumbered the top nine leading causes of death (237,984) for Black Americans in 2019 combined (2020 cause of death data is not yet available). Black abortion numbers (estimated) were over 24 times greater than homicides committed on Black Americans (243,168 v. 9,951) in 2019.
An estimated 666 abortions were committed on Black women each day in 2020.
While the CDC has not broken down abortions by race for 2017, we estimate that in the past decade (2010 to 2020), over 2.4 million Black babies lost their lives due to abortion.
Black abortions estimated past decade 2010 to 2020 CDC
Hispanic abortions
Hispanic Americans made up 18.7% of the population but accounted for 21.1% of abortions, for an estimated 130,889 abortions in 2020. There were 11.4 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women aged 15–44 years, and 173 abortions per 1,000 live births. There were 866,713 Hispanic births recorded in 2020, an average of 2,375 babies born to Hispanic mothers every day.
The Hispanic abortion rate was nearly 1.8 times higher than the white abortion rate (11.4 v. 6.2), and the Hispanic abortion ratio was more than 1.46 times higher than the white abortion ratio (173 v. 118).
Hispanic abortions in 2020 (130,889 estimated) outnumbered the top six leading causes of death (129,627) for Hispanic Americans in 2019 combined (2020 causes of death data has not been published yet). Hispanic abortion numbers (estimated) were nearly 42 times greater than homicides committed on Hispanic Americans (130,889 v. 3,122) in 2019.
Tragically, an estimated 359 abortions were committed on Hispanic women every day that same year.
Top leading causes of death 2019 v Black Hispanic est. abortion 2020
GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE DATA ON RACE IS YEARS BEHIND
The most recent abortion statistics published by Planned Parenthood’s former “special affiliate,” the Guttmacher Institute, revealed that 930,160 abortions were committed nationally in 2020 — an increase of 67,840 over the 862,320 abortions reported in 2017. This translates into 2,548 preborn human beings killed every day in the U.S. by abortion — approximately 106 per hour, 1.8 per minute, and one every 35 seconds. (Read more here.)
The most recent data on race published by the Guttmacher Institute is outdated as it is still from 2014, but even there, the data showed a disproportionate impact as well.
- Black women account for more than one-quarter (28%) of abortion patients but only 14% of all US women aged 15–44.
- Latinas account for one-quarter (25%) of abortion patients but 21% of US women aged 15–44.
- Asian and Pacific Islander women are more proportionately represented, making up 6% of abortion patients and 7% of US women aged 15–44.
- White women, on the other hand, account for 39% of abortions but make up 54% of US women aged 15–44.
