After reaching a high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions annually performed in the U.S. has begun to drop back to levels not seen since the late 1970's.

Two independent sources confirm this decline: the government's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI, Planned Parenthood's special research affiliate monitoring trends in the abortoin industry.

The CDC -Centers for Disease Control - develops its annual report on the basis of data that it receives from 52 central health agencies (50 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia). AGI gets its numbers from direct surveys of abortion providers.

Because of these different methods of data collection, AGI consistently obtains higher numbers of abortion than the CDC. CDC researchers have admitted it probably undercounts the total number of abortions because reporting laws vary from state to state, and some abortion providers probably do not report or underreport the numbers of abortions they perform. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC and AGI numbers have always roughly paralleled each other, both sources are thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and statistics.

According to the CDC's annual abortion report appearing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of December 4, 1998, the number of abortions performed in the U.S. in 1996 was 1,221,585, an increase of .911% from 1995, but still lower than any other year since 1978.

Recent AGI figures confirm this general downward trend. In the November/December, 1998 issue of Family Planning Perspectives, an AGI study reported 1,365,730 abortions in 1996. This is an increase of just 15% from the 1995 total, but still a full 15% below the 1990 high of over 1.6 million.

Using AGI figures and estimates through 1996, and estimating 1,365,730 for 1997, 1998, and 1999, and factoring in the possible 3% - 6% undercount AGI estimates for its own figures, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. from 1973 through 1999 is between 39,417,080 and 40,565,151.

Based on numbers and estimates reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute 1973-1996, with NRLC estimates of 1,365,730 for 1997 and 1998 and CIRTL estimate of 1,365,730 for 1999. AGI estimates a possible 3% - 6% underreporting rate, which is factored into the total.
Source for statistics for 1973 through 1992: Stanley K. Henshaw, et al.,"Abortion Services in the United States, 1991 and 1992," Family Planning Perspectives, vol.26, no.3 (May/June 1994), p.101.