Over 38 Million Abortions in U.

There have been more than 38 million abortions in the twenty six years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized unrestricted abortion on January 22, 1973.

Except when noted, the following statistics are based on research published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, special research affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America--the nation's largest provider and promoter of abortion. Estimates for 1997 and 1998 are based on trends from previous years.

In the past, AGI has estimated a possible 3-6% rate of underreporting. The following uses the lower figure.

Year	Annual Number of Abortions
1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	744,600 898,600 1,034,200 1,179,300 1,316,700 1,409,600 1,497,700 1,553,900 1,577,300 1,573,900 1,575,000 1,577,200 1,588,600 1,574,000 1,559,100 1,590,800 1,566,900 1,608,600 1,556,500 1,528,900 1,500,000 1,431,000 1,363,690 1,365,730 (Estimate) 1,365,730 (Estimate) 1,365,730

            
Total abortions since 1973 -- 38,010,378

(Based on numbers and estimates reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute 1973-1996,with NRLC
 estimates of 1,365,730 for 1997 and 1998.  AGI estimates a possible 3% underreporting rate,
 which is factored into the total.)

Source for statistics for 1973 through 1992: Stanley K. Henshaw, et al.,"Abortions Services in the United States, 1991 and 1992," Family Planning Perspectives, vol.26, no.3 (May/June 1994), p.101.