Abortion Facts & Statistics

How common are abortions in the United States?

Number of abortions per year in the U.S.: 1.21 Million (2005)
Number of abortions per day in the U.S.: Approximately 3,500

Who has abortions?

By age

• 50% are younger than 25
• 33% are age 20-24
• 17% are teenagers

By race

• Black women are almost 4 times as likely as white women to have an abortion.
• Hispanic women are 2.5 times as likely as white women to have an abortion.

By marital/family status

• 66% of all abortions are performed on women who have never married
• 18.4% of abortions are performed on married women
• 9.4% are performed on divorced women
• About 60% of abortions are among women who have had one or more children

By religion

• 43% of women having abortions identify themselves as Protestant
• 27% identify themselves as Catholic

By income

• The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,750 for a single women with no children) is more than 4 times that of women above 300% of the poverty level.
• 28.7% of all abortions are obtained by women with family incomes less than $15,000
• 19.5% of all abortions are obtained by women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999
• 38.0% of all abortions are obtained by women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999
• 13.8% of all abortions are obtained by women with family incomes over $60,000

Why do women have abortions?

• 75% cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals
• 75% say they cannot afford a child
• 75% say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents
• 50% say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their partner

When are abortions performed?

• 61.3% occur before the 9th week of pregnancy
• 17.8% occur between the 9th & 10th week
• 9.6% occur between the 11th & 12th week
• 6.7% occur between the 13th & 15th week
• 3.5% occur between the 16th & 20th week
• 1.1% occur after the 20th week of pregnancy

How common are abortions?

• About one third of women will have had an abortion by age 45.
• 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion
• Each year, two out of every 100 women aged 15-44 have an abortion
• Nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion.

This information is taken from the Alan Guttmacher Institute’s Report: “Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States” (July 2008).

Note: Hope Pregnancy Resource Center does not provide or make referrals for abortions. We do strive to provide accurate information about abortion procedures & effects in order to ensure our clients make informed pregnancy choices.