Since 1973, the Guttmacher Institute has counted 12.2 million more abortions beyond the published totals reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), creating a significant abortion data disparity. The data reveals that between 1973 and 2020, over 60 million abortions have been reported by Planned Parenthood’s former “special affiliate” while nearly 47.8 million were reported by the CDC.
This discrepancy is due to a failure by Congress to mandate comprehensive federal reporting of abortion data from all abortion providers in every state. Currently, as things stand, each state decides whether or not to mandate the reporting of abortion numbers and even abortion-related injuries. There are no federal requirements to do so.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- There is a significant disparity between data reported by Guttmacher and the CDC.
- From 1973-2020, Guttmacher recorded 60,011,560 abortions, while the CDC recorded 47,758,253.
- Abortion kills an estimated 2,548 human beings every day in the U.S., according to 2020 Guttmacher Institute data.
- Chemical abortions account for 5 million preborn babies’ lives lost since its approval in the U.S. in 2000 — nearly 500,000 in 2020 alone.
- At least 454 women are known and reported to have lost their lives due to legal abortion in the U.S. since 1973.
- Worldwide, an estimated 73 million preborn human beings are killed by abortion every single year.
Who reports abortion data?
Traditionally, abortion data has been compiled by two organizations.
The Guttmacher Institute, a former Planned Parenthood “special affiliate,” which has funneled at least $100 million to the abortion corporation, did not begin publishing abortion data until 1973. Guttmacher currently relies on responses to surveys it sends to abortion providers for its abortion reports.
In 1969, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began an abortion surveillance branch to document the number and characteristics of legally obtained abortions. To date, the CDC relies solely on data from the states that individually require abortion reporting.
Currently, not all states report their abortion numbers, and therefore, there are large disparities in abortion data state by state, with some requiring no reporting whatsoever and others collecting a variety of data on age, race, gender, gestation, complications, and other categories. As such, Guttmacher’s overall numbers tend to be more comprehensive.
How many reported abortions since 1973?
Reported abortions are typically years behind in publication with both reporting agencies only recently having published abortion data through 2020.
The staggering abortion totals (1973-2020) are as follows:
- Guttmacher: 60,011,560
- CDC: 47,758,253
As previously stated, this shows a significant discrepancy in the number of abortions (12,253,307) recorded between the reporting agencies.
Abortion killing spree Guttmacher and CDC stats (2000 – 2020) and (1973 – 2020) (Graph: Live Action News)
In January, National Right to Life (NRTL) estimated that the death toll from abortion may have even reached over 64 million by the end of 2022.
But because abortion reporting is years behind, we have no way of knowing just how high the numbers will climb. And with the proliferation of imported chemical abortions, future abortion data may only prove to be a snapshot of what the actual number actually looks like.
Past two decades of abortion
In just the past two decades (2000-2020), Guttmacher recorded nearly 23 million preborn deaths, while the CDC recorded 15.6 million preborn babies killed by abortion during that same time frame. In those same two decades, taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood reports that it committed nearly 6.4 million of those abortions.
Using Guttmacher’s nearly 23 million number, the number of preborn babies aborted in the past two decades outnumber the total population of New York State and about half of the population of California, according to recent census data. To picture this staggering number another way, those aborted equate to nearly half of the estimated immigrant population of the United States.
2020 abortion statistics
The most recently published data on abortion is for the year 2020.
The CDC’s November 25, 2022 report recorded 620,327 legally induced abortions from 49 reporting areas. 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.)
The most recent abortion statistics published by Guttmacher 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.)
Reported number of chemical abortions
The abortion pill (Mifeprex) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000 in an unsettlingly secretive process. By 2020, the abortion pill crossed the threshold to become the majority (53%) of all abortions committed in the United States, according to data published by Guttmacher Institute researchers. (Read more here.)
It is now estimated that nearly 500,000 babies are killed by the abortion pill annually,and as of June 30, 2022, the abortion pill has ended the lives of 5.6 million preborn babies since its approval in 2000. This grosses the industry an estimated $300 million each year.
Reported deaths from legal abortion
An abortion-related death is currently defined by the CDC as “a death resulting from a direct complication of an abortion (legal or illegal), an indirect complication caused by a chain of events initiated by an abortion, or an aggravation of a pre-existing condition by the physiologic effects of abortion. An abortion is categorized as legal when it is performed by a licensed clinician within the limits of state law.”
While the CDC has published abortion data for 2020, CDC data on maternal deaths is only available through 2019, where four abortion-related deaths were recorded by the CDC. Between 1973 and 2019, CDC data recorded 454 women’s deaths from legal abortion with additional amounts reportedly due to illegal abortions.
Worldwide abortion totals
Many countries do not gather reliable abortion data, and not all countries have fully decriminalized abortion. Those that have decriminalized it may allow abortion at varying times and for various reasons.
In 1999, Guttmacher claimed, “About 26 million women have legal abortions each year, and 20 million have abortions in countries where abortion is restricted or prohibited by law.” In March of 2022, Guttmacher claimed (and the World Health Organization [WHO] agreed) that 73 million babies are killed by abortion worldwide per year.
While it is important to note that abortions are not included in total death counts, in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Our World in Data estimated that 69 million people died worldwide. At the same time, 2021 worldwide abortion estimates published by the WHO estimated 73M babies were killed by abortion globally that year.
In 2023, worldwide death counts published by Our World in Data totaled 61 million — far fewer than 2021. While 2023 global abortion data has not been published, it is likely that abortions would still outnumber other published deaths globally in 2023.
A 2021 review of European countries by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) found that 47 out of 50 European nations limit elective abortion to prior to 15 weeks gestation. Each abortion violently ends the life of a developing human person — and sometimes ends a mother’s life as well.
Editor’s Note, 1/4/23: This post was updated with more recent FDA information.
Editor’s Note, 1/10/23: This post was updated with more recent NRTL information.
Editor’s Note, 1/16/2024: This post was updated with more recent global total death counts.
