Abortions of unborn babies fell 2% the year the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC’s annual abortion surveillance report, published on Wednesday, found that a total of 613,383 unborn babies were legally aborted within 48 reporting areas in the United States in 2022, the year the High Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe.
Out of the 47 areas that were consistently reporting data between 2021 and 2022, there was a 2% decrease from the 622,108 unborn babies who were legally aborted in 2021, to 609,360 in 2022.
The report states: “From 2021 to 2022, the total number of abortions decreased 2% (from 622,108 total abortions), the abortion rate decreased 3% (from 11.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years), and the abortion ratio decreased 2% (from 204 abortions per 1,000 live births).”
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Women in their 20s accounted for more than half (56%) of the abortions performed in 2022, according to the CDC data. Women between the ages of 20-24 (28.3%) and 25 to 29 (28.2%) accounted for the highest percentages of abortions and had the highest abortion rates.
“By contrast,” the report stated, “adolescents aged <15 years and women aged ≥40 years accounted for the lowest percentages of abortions (0.2% and 3.6%, respectively) and had the lowest abortion rates (0.4 and 2.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged <15 and ≥40 years, respectively).”
The majority of unborn babies were aborted at less than nine weeks gestation during 2022, the report found, and nearly all of the unborn babies who were aborted and tracked by the CDC (92.8%) were aborted at less than 13 weeks gestation.
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Around 9% of abortions were performed on unborn babies older than 13 weeks, the report said. The highest percentage of abortions were performed using abortion drugs at less than 9 weeks (53%) followed by surgical abortions at less than 13 weeks (35%), then surgical abortions at older than 13 weeks (6.9%), and then medication abortion drugs after 9 weeks.
The report says that “all other methods were uncommon.”
And it notes that five women died during this time period from abortions: “In 2021, the most recent year for which PMSS data were reviewed for pregnancy-related deaths, five women died as a result of complications from legal induced abortions.”
The 6-3 decision in Dobbs followed the May 2022 leak of a draft opinion indicating which way the justices would rule. That leak prompted protesting across the nation, particularly in Washington, D.C., as well as dozens of attacks and vandalism of pro-life organizations, centers, and churches. The decision leaves it to states to impose restrictions on abortion.