Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
The number of abortions conducted in the United States has dropped significantly since they became legal in 1973, according to a recent report from Guttmacher Institute.
The abortion rights research group said recent abortion restrictions in many red states are not the main driver for the lowering rate, though.
In 2017, the Institute registered 862,000 abortions. That is down from a similar report made available in 2014 that reported 926,000 abortions nationwide and 1 million in 2011.
Guttmacher accumulates data from all states and territories. Federal data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exclude California, Maryland and New Hampshire.
Guttmacher said abortions, nationwide, are decreasing. Regardless of Republican-controlled states that are restricting abortion rights or Democratic-controlled states that are protecting those rights, the institute said it is because fewer women are getting pregnant, citing the nation’s declining birth rate. Also, women have more access to birth control and contraception since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2011.
Between 2011 and 2017, close to 400 state laws were enacted throughout the nation restricting abortion and women’s health access. But 57 percent of the nation’s abortion decline happened in 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, that did not enact new restrictions to abortion access.
None of the bans has taken effect as of yet.
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