LOWER AND LOWER

Number of Abortions in the U.S. Hits Lowest Since Legalization in 1973

It’s now less than half what it was in 1990, when the number reached its peak.

The number of abortions across the United States has tumbled to its lowest level since legalization of the procedure in 1973. New figures released early Wednesday show that 862,000 abortions took place across the nation in 2017—down from 926,000 in 2014, and from over 1 million in 2011. The numbers were tallied by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. They show that abortions are decreasing in all parts of the country, whether they’re Republican-controlled states that are striving to restrict abortion access or in pro-choice Democratic states. The report states that one reason for the decline was that fewer women are becoming pregnant. Following the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, the number of abortions in the U.S. rose steadily until it peaked at 1.6 million in 1990. It then went into steady decline, and the abortion rate is now less than half what is was in 1990.