According to pro-life group Operation Rescue’s annual survey of abortion facilities in each state, the number of abortion facilities in the United States continued to decline in 2018. Reportedly, 40 abortion facilities closed or stopped committing abortions. The decline results in a total of 159 fewer abortion facilities than there were just six years prior, in 2012.
Operation Rescue conducts the survey of abortion clinics annually and compiles data by contacting each abortion business in the United States and noting whether the facilities commit medication or surgical abortions, or both.
This year, the survey found a total of 697 abortion facilities in the United States. The group found a significant increase in the proportion of abortion businesses committing medication abortions, while the number of surgical abortion facilities continued to decline. There were 467 noted by Operation Rescue to offer surgical abortion, which is a 79 percent decrease from 1991 when there were 2,176 surgical abortion facilities in the United States.
Commenting on the survey, Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said, “We are very encouraged by the results of our 2018 survey. Abortion facilities are closing faster than they can open, and that means there are fewer women and babies being put at risk.” He added, “America is rejecting abortion in favor of life, and we expect that trend to continue until all of our nation is finally abortion-free.”
READ: Abortion facilities closing at unprecedented rate, says new report
In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on abortion numbers for 2015, the latest year for which data are available. The CDC report suggests that the number of abortions in the United States had reached its lowest point since Roe v. Wade.
Newman suggested there was a correlation between the continuing trend of abortion facility closures and the decreased number of abortions. He stated, “When abortion clinics close, lives are saved. Our data, when compared to the CDC’s data, is compelling evidence of that fact. Based on that, we can expect to see abortion numbers continue to decline.”
The reasons for abortion facility closures were varied, including failure or refusal to comply with new state legislation, lack of an abortion provider, failure to comply with state regulations, and landlords who refused to continue leasing to abortion businesses. Read the full report here.
