Abortion has long been a controversial subject in U.S. society. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women had a right to have an abortion in the landmark
. Nevertheless, individual States were free to enact laws that restricted the practice and availability of abortion depended greatly on which state or region a woman lived. In this way, the tug-of-war between so-called “pro-choice” and “pro-life” advocates continued. However, on June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,
. In anticipation of the ruling, thirteen states already had "trigger laws" that automatically banned abortion. The Supreme Court's decision was not a complete surprise as a leaked memo from May 2022 suggested they were to make this decision, but the announcement in June still led to protests across the United States. A survey of U.S. adults just weeks before the announcement found that only 33 percent wanted to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, while 49 percent of
.
How many abortions take place in the U.S. each year?
Despite the debate and difficulties surrounding access to abortion,
thousands of women have legal abortions in the United States every year. In 2022, there were approximately 613,000 legal abortions reported in the United States, the lowest number recorded since the Roe V. Wade case in 1973. In 2022, the
abortion rate in the U.S. was highest among women aged 20 to 29 years with almost 19 legal abortions reported per 1,000 women in this age group. However, the
abortion rate among women aged 20 to 24 has decreased significantly over the past couple decades. The
U.S. states with the highest number of abortions in 2022 were Florida, New York, and Illinois. In that year, there were around 82,581 abortions performed in the state of Florida.
Are more people "pro-life" or "pro-choice"?
Public opinion in the U.S. remains divided on the issue of abortion. A
survey from 2024 found 54 percent of Americans considered themselves pro-choice and 41 percent considered themselves pro-life. The same survey found that
younger adults were more likely to support making abortion legal under any circumstance, with 34 percent of those aged 18 to 29 believing so, compared to just 19 percent of those aged 65 and older. Furthermore,
college graduates were much more likely to support making abortion legal under any circumstance than those who did not attend college. Unfortunately, the issue of abortion is such a divisive topic in the United States that it has lead to instances of violence. From 1970 to 2020 there were 260
abortion-related terrorist attacks in the United States, making abortion-related facilities the fourth most common target of terror attacks in the United States during this period.
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