In this entry, I begin with world abortion statistics but then go on to mainly present US abortion statistics from the two most reliable sources, the AGI and the CDC. At the end of the post, I give the AGI's statement of how the Institute's methods of information collection differ for the CDC's (the AGI leans toward pro-choice, while the CDC purports to be neutral).

The statistics given here are some of the more recent on public record, although they are now 3-5 years out of date. I will present a position analysis in a later entry. For now, as best we can surmise, the facts:

sources are quoted directly, unless marked with bracket exclusions; any emphases are mine

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source: "The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide: Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 25, Supplement, Jan. 1999. By Stanley K. Henshaw, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas

http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/25s3099.html

Worldwide, about one-fourth of the approximately 180 million pregnancies known to occur each year are resolved by abortion. Abortions numbered an estimated 46 million in 1995, but given the uncertainty of the data, that number could be as low as 42 million or as high as 50 million. About 35 in every 1,000 women aged 15–44 have an abortion each year.

[Of the approximately 46 million annual worldwide abortions,] about 26 million were legal and 20 million illegal. The abortion rate worldwide was about 35 per 1,000 women aged 15–44. Of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages and stillbirths), 26% were terminated by abortion.

The developing areas of the world, where 79% of the world's people live, account for 64% of legal and 95% of illegal abortions. When both legal and illegal abortions are considered, the abortion rate is 39 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 in developed countries and 34 per 1,000 in developing countries, a difference that is nonsignificant when the degree of error in the estimates is considered. The abortion ratio (abortions per 100 pregnancies ending in birth or abortion) is higher in the developed regions than in the developing regions (42% vs. 23%) because the developed areas have low birthrates.

The number and rate of abortions in developed regions are strongly influenced by the number and rate in Central and Eastern Europe, where abortion is a common method of limiting and spacing births. When Eastern Europe is excluded, the number of abortions in the developed areas drops by more than half, and the rate falls from 39 to 20 abortions per 1,000 women. Similarly, China accounts for a large part of the developing world's population; excluding China, however, has little impact on the abortion rate. [Among developing nations, Vietnam and Cuba have the highest abortion rates.]

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About.com's Women's Issues site gives (without source) the typical number of abortions (usually cited as calculated from CDC annual figures) of abortions performed in the US (an estimate, of course) since Roe v. Wade's passage in 1973: 40 million.

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source: Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and The Alan Guttmacher Institute (favorable to a pro-choice position)

http://www.agi-usa.org/presentations/ab_slides.html

unless otherwise marked, statistics were reported in January 2003, and are therefore assumed to represent 2002 information; in this section I paraphrase, rather than directly quote, research results (the numbers have not been altered, nor the categories of reporting, except that I have chosen to phrase how many unintended pregnancies resulted in abortion in the positive

total number of abortions: 1.3 million, 90% in the first trimester

48% of pregnancies were unintended; 47% of unintended pregnancies resulted in abortion

of women who aborted, 56% were in their 20s; 67.3% were never married

in 2000, 57% of women who aborted were (together with their household) below the poverty line or low income

low-income women were less likely to abort unintended pregnancies than higher income women, but had more unintended pregnancies, which result statistically in a greater number of abortions, proportionally

non-Hispanic whites account for 41% of abortions (the largest racial group represented)

together, however, black and hispanic women make up 51.8% of women having abortions [e.g., black women have 3 times as many abortions as non-hispanic caucasians; hispanics combined with other race groups but excluding blacks account for 2.3 times more abortions than non-Hispanic white women per the CDC in 2001]

61% of women who aborted had previously given birth; 48% had previously had at least one abortion

reasons for abortion (1987 study used by both pro-choice and pro-life, Torres and Forrest, 1988; women gave 3.7 reasons on average):

"Inadequate finances 21%
Not ready for responsibility 21%
Woman’s life would be changed too much 16%
Problems with relationship; unmarried 12%
Too young; not mature enough 11%
Children are grown; woman has all she wants 8%
Other 4%"

"Fetus has possible health problem 3%
Woman has health problem 3%
Pregnancy caused by rape, incest 1%"

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source: CDC Abortion Surveillance and Research, 2001 (table and figure links removed):

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/surv_abort.htm

Overall, the annual number of legal induced abortions in the United States increased gradually from 1973 until it peaked in 1990, and it generally declined thereafter. In 2001, a total of 853,485 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC by 49 reporting areas. This represents a 0.5% decrease from 2000, for which the same 49 areas reported 857,475 legal induced abortions.

The national legal induced abortion ratio increased from 196 per 1,000 live births in 1973 (the first year that 52 areas reported) to 358 per 1,000 in 1979 and remained nearly stable through 1981. The ratio peaked at 364 per 1,000 in 1984 and since then has demonstrated a generally steady decline. In 2001, the abortion ratio was 246 per 1,000 in 49 reporting areas and 247 for the same 48 reporting areas for which data were available since 1998. This represents a 0.4% increase from 2000 (246 per 1,000).

The national legal induced abortion rate increased from 14 per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years in 1973 to 25 per 1,000 in 1980. The rate remained stable, at 23--24 per 1,000 during the 1980s and early 1990s and at 20--21 per 1,000 during 1994-- 1997. The abortion rate remained unchanged at 17 per 1,000 during 1997--1999 in the same 48 reporting areas. In 2001, the abortion rate remained unchanged from 2000 at 16 per 1,000, both overall and in the same 48 reporting areas as 1999.

Abortion trends by age indicate that since 1973, abortion ratios have been higher for adolescents aged <15 years than for any other age group. For females aged <19 years and those aged >40 years, the abortion ratio generally increased from 1974 through the early 1980s and declined thereafter. The abortion ratio for women aged 20--34 years (those with the highest fertility rates) (7) has declined slightly since the mid-1980s. The abortion ratio for women aged 35--39 years has declined gradually over time.

The numbers, ratios, and rates of reported legal induced abortions are presented by area of residence as well as by area of occurrence. In 2001, the highest number of reported legal induced abortions occurred in NYC (91,792), Florida (85,589), and Texas (77,409); the fewest occurred in Idaho (738), South Dakota (895), and North Dakota (1,216).

Note: The two primary sources of US Abortion Statistics are the CDC and AGI. Per the AGI, their methods of information collection are the chief difference (the numbers themselves tend to be complementary, although not exact in their correspondence):

The methods of data collection differ as well. The CDC collects most of its information indirectly, mainly through reports from state health departments. Reports for the 45 states that collect information on abortion and the District of Columbia vary in completeness, with some lacking information on as many as 40-50% of the abortions that occur in the state.

The CDC also conducts limited surveys of abortion providers or makes estimates for the states that do not collect abortion information (Alaska, California, Iowa, New Hampshire and Oklahoma). For information on the type of abortion procedure used and the characteristics of women having abortions, the CDC relies on the reports of the approximately 40 states that collect these data.

AGI, on the other hand, directly surveys all known providers of abortion services, which numbered 2,380 nationwide at last count. As a result, the number of abortions reported by AGI is accepted as the more accurate and is somewhat higher than that report ed by the CDC—by 15%, on average (although the difference has narrowed somewhat in recent years). Most likely, some abortions also go unreported to AGI—primarily office procedures performed by physicians for their own patients—but this number is believed to be very small. Underreporting may become more prevalent if methods of nonsurgical abortion become widely available in private physicians' offices."