Abortion statistics in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began abortion surveillance reports in 1969 to document the number and characteristics of women obtaining legal induced abortions. Many states conduct abortion surveillance. CDC compiles the information that states collect to produce national estimates. CDC’s surveillance system compiles information on legal induced abortions only.

Note that there is a large decrease in reported abortions between 1997 and 1998. This is because CDC reduced its reporting area from 52 reporting areas in 1997 to 47 reporting areas in 1998. The actual decline from 1997 to 1998 in those 47 reporting areas was only 2%.

Note: Not all states reported for each year. See citation for list of states not reporting.