The abortion rate in America appears to be inching upward, reversing a decades-long trend of decline, according to just-released figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Abortion numbers continued to increase from 2018 to 2019, preliminary CDC data revealed. The federal agency recorded 629,898 pregnancy terminations across 47 states and Washington, D.C., in 2019:
From 2010 to 2019, the number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 18%, 21%, and 13%, respectively. However, compared with 2018, in 2019, the total number increased 2%, the rate of reported abortions increased by 0.9%, and the abortion ratio increased by 3%.
In 2017, national abortion numbers reached the lowest point since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision granting nationwide legal cover to abortion.
But now, according to the CDC numbers, roughly 18% of all pregnancies in the country ended in abortion.
Several reports on the uptick in abortions urged caution, noting the figures are based on voluntary reporting — which is susceptible to significant undercounting — that has not yet been comprehensively corroborated.
Additionally, the data currently available does not paint a full picture, given the survey does not include abortion numbers from New Hampshire, Maryland, or California, the nation’s most populous state.
The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute warned those omissions could mean as much as 30% of abortions happening across the U.S. have not been captured by CDC data, NBC News reported.
As far as what the new information means for the pro-life movement, Dr. Michael New, a research associate at the Catholic University of America and an associate scholar for the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, argued that, while the numbers are “not good,” the overall trend still favors life.
“Pro-lifers have still made long-term progress,” he wrote. “According to Guttmacher, the abortion rate has declined by over 50% since 2010.”
The new CDC data came just days ahead of oral arguments Wednesday before the Supreme Court in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case. The high court will consider “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.”
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