Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health

In the United States, about 25 percent of pregnancies are terminated by women through abortion. This compares similarly to statistics of Canadian women aborting pregnancies; about 21 percent. Countries where contraceptives are less available, report higher abortion rates. In Russia, about 60 percent, and Romania, 78 percent. The percentage of women terminating pregnancies in the United States has been declining since 1979.

In the United States, the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) has tracked the number of abortions since 1970. These figures are obtained directly from providers. The AGI calculates that considering a four percent underreporting of abortions, nearly 37 million abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973. In 1995, 1.2 million were reported by AGI; in 1996 and 1997, the Centers for Disease Control estimated 1.4 million and 1.3 million respectively for each year.

In 1992, the United States rate of abortion was 26 out of every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 to 44 years. In the same year, the ratio of abortion in the United States was 27.5 abortions per 100 live births.