Abortion Bans Saved the Lives of 13,000 Babies Months After Dobbs
States officially recorded nearly 13,000 fewer abortions in the months after the Supreme Court returned citizens’ ability to protect unborn children, something that pro-life advocates say proves pro-life laws work. Yet the abortion industry carried out more than 600,000 abortions in 2022, including tens of thousands of abortions in the second or third trimester. While no mothers died from illegal abortions, five women died from “safe, legal” abortions in 2022. The data also showed nearly nine out of 10 abortions take place to mothers who become pregnant outside of wedlock. Overall, the U.S. government’s official tally shows a long-term reduction in the number, rate, and ratio of abortions over the last nine years.
The Biden administration’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) curiously released its annual compilation of abortion data, known as the abortion surveillance, on November 28 — Thanksgiving day. The CDC reports state-level data voluntarily submitted by 48 reporting areas: 46 states, New York City, and the District of Columbia.
The abortion industry carried out 613,383 recorded abortions in CDC-reporting areas during 2022, the CDC reports. That’s a decrease of 12,595 from the previous year, when the industry committed 625,978 abortions in the same locations, according to the 2021 abortion surveillance.
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The 2022 report is the first to reflect the changed legal picture after the Dobbs decision. The landmark pro-life ruling, which took place on June of that year, returned the issue of abortion to democratic control and allowed states to once again protect children in the womb. By the end of the year, 22 states had implemented some law protecting babies from abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Pro-Life Laws Work, Say Advocates
The Biden administration’s new report shows that 2022 broke the trend of rising abortions “[F]rom 2018 to 2019, increases of 1%–3% were observed across all measures,” it notes, while pro-life scholars trace a rise in abortions to the mid-2010s. The number of abortions rose 5% in 2021, while abortions fell by 2% in 2022. The CDC compared the 47 governments that had consistently reported data over the last decade and found, “[f]rom 2021 to 2022, the total number of abortions decreased 2% (from 622,108 total abortions)” to 609,360 — a difference of 12,748 abortions. The abortion rate also decreased by 3% in one year, to 11.2 per 1,000 women aged 15-44.
Mary Szoch, the director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, greeted the news with one exclamation of joy: “Yes!”
“Praise God — the new CDC data proves that laws protecting the unborn work,” Szoch told The Washington Stand.
The abortion rates varied widely between conservative and liberal states. Missouri had an abortion rate of only 0.1 per 1,000 women, while New Mexico had the highest rate, with 28.8 per 1,000 women.
“Certainly, states like New Mexico saw their abortion numbers increase due to out-of-state women seeking abortions, but overall, the number of abortions fell by 3%, defying the trend of increasing abortion numbers that began in 2017,” said Szoch. “Pro-life laws have saved lives, and I am certain that mothers who did not abort their baby because the law prevented them are grateful.”
Other experts agreed. “Most importantly, after Dobbs, 15 states had strong pro-life laws (abortion ban or heartbeat act) in effect for more than a month,” said Michael New, assistant professor at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
“[B]irth data from states with strong pro-life laws and these CDC data provide powerful evidence that newly enacted pro-life laws are preventing abortions and saving lives,” wrote New.
The Abortion Industry Carried Out Tens of Thousands of Second- and Third-Trimester Abortions in 2022
The latest CDC abortion surveillance divulges that tens of thousands of babies were claimed by later-term abortions. The abortion industry carried out 4,896, or just over 1% of all abortions, after 20 weeks’ gestation. Adding the 27,854 abortions carried out between 14 and 20 weeks’ gestation shows a total of 32,750 abortions — or 8.2% of all U.S. abortions — took place in the second or third trimester during 2022. In all, “78.6% of abortions were performed at ≤9 weeks’ gestation, and 92.8% were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation,” states the report.
Chemical abortions accounted for 57.6% of all abortions — including 23,412 chemical abortions (4.3%) after nine weeks’ gestation. The FDA approved the abortion pill, mifepristone, in 2000 for use only for the first seven weeks, but the abortion industry widely flouted those norms. The Obama administration extended the deadly pill’s use to 10 weeks in 2016. Over the last 10 years, the share of babies killed by the abortion pill more than doubled, rising by 129%.
The two-drug chemical abortion cocktail, which has higher adverse effects than surgical abortion, primarily affects young women. Legal abortion also sometimes kills mothers. The “CDC identified five abortion-related deaths for 2021,” the CDC states. “Investigation of these cases indicated all deaths were related to legal abortion.” The CDC reported 38 women died of abortion — which its proponents classify as “safe and legal” — from 2013 to 2022, while one woman reportedly died due to an “illegal” abortion in 2016.
The Abortion Crisis Is a Marriage Crisis: Pro-Life Leaders
The report shows women in their 20s are the demographic most likely to have an abortion — accounting for 56.5% of all abortions — but the rate is much higher if they become pregnant out of wedlock.
Unmarried women were up to 10 times more likely to have an abortion than married women. “For 2022, among the 36 areas that reported by marital status, 12.3% of women who obtained an abortion were married, and 87.7% were unmarried. The abortion ratio was 37 abortions per 1,000 live births for married women and 376 abortions per 1,000 live births for unmarried women.”
“Nearly 9 in 10 children who are aborted have parents who are unmarried. Thousands of children are being killed every day due to the chaos and confusion surrounding sex and relationships,” said the pro-life organization Live Action. “If we want to end the crisis of abortion in our country, we must tackle the issue of sexual ethics.”
“Less people leading sexually hedonistic lives will turn out better for everyone in the long run,” assessed a Live Action spokeswoman. “Being in a loving, committed relationship is better for everyone overall.”
The latest abortion figures also show an enduring racial divide. Black women were 428% more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion. Black women, who make up 14% of the population, accounted for 40% of all abortions. White women accounted for one-third of abortions (32%), and Hispanic women made up one in five abortions (21%), the CDC reports.
Abortion Number, Rate, Ratio Have Fallen from 2013-2022
The CDC report reveals a long-term decrease in abortion over the last nine years. “From 2013 to 2022, the total number of reported abortions decreased 5% (from 640,154), the abortion rate decreased 10% (from 12.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years), and the abortion ratio increased 1% (from 198 abortions per 1,000 live births),” reports the CDC.
From 2013 to 2022, adolescent girls and young women into their mid-30s became more likely to have an abortion if they got pregnant. The abortion ratio — the relationship of the number of abortions vs. live births — decreased only among women over the age of 35.
“From 2013 to 2022, abortion rates decreased among all age groups, except women aged 30-34 years for whom it increased,” states the report. “By contrast,” adolescents under the age of 15 and women over the age of 40 “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
CDC Abortion Figures Are Incomplete, Require Caution, Say Experts
The CDC’s annual abortion surveillance does not include every state. Its data reflect only those 47 areas that consistently reported abortion numbers to the U.S. government during the entire period. Four states, including the nation’s most populous state, do not report abortion data: California, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. The nation’s capital — Washington, D.C. — began reporting abortion data after amending its vital statistics statute in 2018.
The CDC abortion surveillance also does not include self-managed abortions. A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in March “estimated a 6-month post-Dobbs increase in self-managed medication abortions of 26,055.”
These omissions have led some pro-life advocates to sound a note of caution. “We hope what the CDC says today is true — that since the Dobbs’ decision, abortion is down in America,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. “Without a National Abortion Reporting Law, we cannot track the deaths caused by intentional abortion from surgery or [c]hemical [a]bortion [p]ills, so we are praying the Trump administration will call their bluff with thorough reporting.”
To create an accurate picture of abortion in particular and public health in general, conservatives have called on the federal government to mandate abortion reporting in all 50 states. The much-maligned Project 2025 endorsed legislation “to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.” The U.S. government would “ensure that [state] statistics are separated by category: spontaneous miscarriage; treatments that incidentally result in the death of a child (such as chemotherapy); stillbirths; and induced abortion.”
Vice President Kamala Harris purchased TV ads that falsely accused President Donald Trump of supporting Project 2025 and, thus, “requiring the government to monitor women’s pregnancies.” Numerous Democrats repeated this theme, both at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and on the campaign trail.
Pro-life advocates say the abortion data available should motivate Christians to continue advocating for laws that protect innocent life at the local, state, and national level. To assure long-term, societal change, believers must also endorse a culture of life, they say.
“It would be wonderful if we could instantly change the hearts and minds of all men and women to make killing an unborn child unthinkable, but unfortunately the immediate change of hearts hasn’t happened,” said Szoch. “Following the Civil War, the hearts and minds of Americans didn’t immediately change. But laws were enacted reflecting the dignity of every person regardless of the color of their skin — and following those laws, we have made significant progress toward racial equality. If we want true equality in America, though, our laws have to reflect that human dignity begins in the womb. If we protect life in the womb in law, we will one day reach a point where our culture also values the unborn.”
LifeNews Note: Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
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