The number of abortion-related deaths in the U.S. has decreased dramatically since 1973. In 1973, the number of deaths related to abortions was 47. In 2021, the number of reported deaths related to abortions had decreased to just five. Abortion is the act of ending a pregnancy so that it does not result in the birth of a baby. Abortions in the U.S. Abortions can be performed in a surgical setting or a medical setting (the pill). The number of legal abortions reported in the U.S. has generally declined yearly since 1990. The most frequently performed kind of abortion in the U.S. in 2022 were medical abortions. Abortion and the legality and morality of the procedure has been a publicly debated topic in the United States for many years. Public opinions on abortion Opinions on abortion in the United States can be divided into two campaigns. Pro-choice is the belief that women have the right to decide when they want to become pregnant and if they want to terminate the pregnancy through an abortion. Pro-life, is the belief that women should not be able to choose to have an abortion. As of 2023, around 52 percent of the U.S. population was pro-choice, while 44 percent considered themselves pro-life. However, these shares have fluctuated over the past couple decades, with a majority of people saying they were pro-life as recently as 2019.

In 2022, the states with the highest rates of abortion per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 years in the United States were New Mexico, Illinois, and Kansas. The states with the lowest rates of abortion were Missouri and South Dakota. Abortion differences among the states In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade allowing states to restrict the practice of abortion or outright ban it completely. A number of states immediately banned the procedure through trigger laws they had in place in anticipation of the ruling. Even before the ruling, abortion accessibility and rates varied greatly from state to state, but this difference has become even more pronounced. For example, in 2022, Florida had an abortion rate of 20.5 per 1,000 women, while the rate in Missouri was just .1. Florida had the highest total number of abortions that year, followed by New York and Illinois. While Florida reported around 82,581 abortions in 2022, there were just 88 such procedures in Missouri. Public opinion on abortion In the United States, the debate surrounding abortion is often divided among those who are “pro-life” and think abortion should be restricted or banned and those who are “pro-choice” and believe the decision to abort a pregnancy should be up to the woman. Gallup polls show the distribution of people in the United States who are pro-life or pro-choice has fluctuated over the years but in 2023 around 52 percent of respondents stated they were pro-choice while 44 percent said they were pro-life. Older respondents are more likely to express views limiting access to abortion, while younger people are more likely to believe abortion should be legal under any circumstance. However, just a small minority of people of all ages believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

In 2022, there were around 613 thousand legal abortions in the United States. The number of legal abortions in the United States has decreased significantly since the early 1990’s. This number will probably continue to decrease in the coming years since many states have severely limited or completely banned abortion after the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022. The states with the highest abortion rates In 2022, the rate of legal abortions per live births in the United States was 19.9 per 100. In comparison, in 1990 there were 34.4 abortions per 100 live births. The states with the highest rates of abortion per live births are New Mexico, Illinois, and Florida. In Florida, there were around 37 abortions per 100 live births in 2022. Florida had the highest total number of abortions that year, followed by New York and Illinois. Missouri and South Dakota had the lowest number of abortions in 2022. Out-of-state abortions Critics of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade argue that while those who can afford it may be able to travel to other states for an abortion if their state bans the procedure, poorer residents will have no such choice. Even before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, out-of-state residents already accounted for a high share of abortions in certain states. In 2022, 69 percent of abortions in Kansas were performed on out-of-state residents, while out-of-state residents accounted for around 62 percent of abortions in New Mexico. Illinois had the highest total number of abortions performed on out-of-state residents that year, with around 16,849 procedures.

In 2021, a total of 13 deaths were reported to have occurred as a result of complications following an abortion in Argentina, down from 23 deaths registered a year earlier. Abortion is one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in Argentina.

In December 2020, abortion in Argentina was legalized up until the 14th week of pregnancy. Before the law passed, abortion was only decriminalized in cases where the pregnant person's life or health was in danger, or if the pregnancy was the result of rape.

In 2022, there were around 38 legal abortions per 100 live births among unmarried women in the United States. In comparison, the rate of abortion per live births among married women was around four per 100. The abortion rates for both married and unmarried women in the United States have decreased over the last few decades. Abortion statistics in the United States In 2022, the overall rate of abortion in the United States per 100 live births was 19.9. Abortion in the U.S. is most common among women aged 25 to 29 years, with around 19 abortions per 1,000 women in this age group. The most common method of abortion in 2022 was medical abortion with a gestation of nine weeks or less, followed by surgical abortion with a gestation of 13 weeks or less. Medical abortion involves taking prescription medication to end the pregnancy, while surgical abortion involves a surgical procedure. The two main types of surgical abortion are vacuum aspiration and dilation and evacuation (D&E). Abortion-related deaths in the United States are very rare, with only five such deaths reported in 2021. Abortion among adolescents In 2022, the abortion rate among adolescent women in the United States aged 15 to 19 years was 5.4 per 1,000 population. In comparison, in 2013, this rate was 8.2 per 1,000 women. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the abortion rate among adolescent women increases with age. In 2022, those aged 19 years had the highest rate of abortion among teenagers. The majority of abortions performed on adolescent women are done in week nine or less of gestation. In 2022, there were around 24,626 abortions performed on adolescent women in week nine or less of gestation, while 9,313 abortion procedures were carried out after week nine of gestation.

A survey of women who obtained an abortion in the United States between June 2021 and July 2022 found that 45 percent of women who received an abortion were insured under Medicaid, while 21 percent had no health insurance at all. This statistic shows the distribution of women in the U.S. who obtained an abortion from June 2021 to July 2022, by health insurance status.

Abortions in the Soviet Union became much more accessible under the Khrushchev administration in 1953, and the USSR's abortion rate subsequently developed into the highest in the world. The Soviet government did not begin releasing official statistical data until the 1970s, however it is believed that around six or seven million abortions were carried out each year in the 1950s and 1960s; a figure that remained fairly consistent until the late 1980s**. This high rate was, in-part, due to rapid urbanization and a desire for smaller families, as well as the lack of quality contraceptives produced by the Soviet government, and the widespread belief that abortion was safer than the side-effects of hormonal regulation via the pill. Relative to population size, there were between 97 and 106 abortions carried out per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49 in the given years, which is roughly equal to one in ten women of childbearing age having an abortion each year (estimates for Russia alone suggest that this number was one in six in the 1960s). There were however regional disparities across the Soviet Union, as abortions were much more accessible and common in the European part of the country, and less available or socially acceptable in the Muslim-majority and rural regions of Asia. Abortion in the U.S. In the U.S. during this time, the abortion rate was much lower due to previous legal restrictions and lack of access, societal attitudes, and better access to contraceptives. Prior to 1973, abortions were either banned outright or only available under specific circumstances in all-but-four states. The Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade then saw the removal of most federal restrictions relating to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. This granted women across the country greater access to legal abortions; in 1975 there were over one million legal abortions performed in the U.S., and between 1.5 and 1.6 million in the 1980s. Proportional to population size, this equated to 29 abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 45 in 1980, which is roughly equal to one in 34 women of childbearing age having an abortion in this year. Legacy During the decline and dissolution of the Soviet Union, the government began to promote the use of contraceptives, however the poor quality and supply of these reinforced former perceptions that they were more harmful than abortions. Additionally, medical institutions received much higher sums from the government when abortions were performed (relative to income from contraceptives), and these incentives delayed the drop in Russian and other post-Soviet states' abortion rates. While it is now generally accepted that contraception is safer than abortion, and awareness of the risks of infertility and maternal death has become more widespread, today, Soviet successor states have some of the highest abortion rates in the world by a considerable margin.

In the U.S., following the peak of almost 30 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in the 1980s, the abortion rate has gradually fallen with each decade, even dropping below the 1973 level in 2017. Although this is a side effect of improvements in contraception and education, a large part of this decline can be attributed to restricted access to abortion, particularly in rural and southern regions. While the majority of U.S. adults support Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling in June 2022, granting states the right to determine their own abortion laws.

In 2021, it was estimated that the maternal mortality rate as a result of abortion in Argentina amounted to 0.25 deaths per 10,000 live births. Meanwhile, hypertension, edema, or proteinuria caused around 0.6 deaths per 10,000 live births in the South American country that year. As of that date, viral infections related to pregnancy were the leading cause of maternal death in Argentina, most of them related to COVID-19.

Maternal mortality rates can vary significantly around the world. For example, in 2022, Estonia had a maternal mortality rate of zero per 100,000 live births, while Mexico reported a rate of 38 deaths per 100,000 live births. However, the regions with the highest number of maternal deaths are Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, with differences between countries and regions often reflecting inequalities in health care services and access. Most causes of maternal mortality are preventable and treatable with the most common causes including severe bleeding, infections, complications during delivery, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and unsafe abortion. Maternal mortality in the United States In 2022, there were a total of 817 maternal deaths in the United States. Women aged 25 to 39 years accounted for 578 of these deaths, however, rates of maternal mortality are much higher among women aged 40 years and older. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among women aged 40 years and older in the U.S. was 87 per 100,000 live births, compared to a rate of 21 among women aged 25 to 39 years. The rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. has risen in recent years among all age groups. Differences in maternal mortality in the U.S. by race/ethnicity Sadly, there are great disparities in maternal mortality in the United States among different races and ethnicities. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among non-Hispanic white women was about 19 per 100,000 live births, while non-Hispanic Black women died from maternal causes at a rate of almost 50 per 100,000 live births. Rates of maternal mortality have risen for white and Hispanic women in recent years, but Black women have by far seen the largest increase in maternal mortality. In 2022, around 253 Black women died from maternal causes in the United States.

In 2021, a total of 13 people died due to complications following an abortion in Argentina. Meanwhile, 34 deaths were reported due to hypertension, edema or proteinuria during pregnancy, childbirth or puerperium. According to a survey carried out in the South American country in November 2020, more than a third of respondents strongly disagreed with the decriminalization of abortion.

This statistic shows the 20 countries* with the highest infant mortality rate in 2024. An estimated 101.3 infants per 1,000 live births died in the first year of life in Afghanistan in 2024. Infant and child mortality Infant mortality usually refers to the death of children younger than one year. Child mortality, which is often used synonymously with infant mortality, is the death of children younger than five. Among the main causes are pneumonia, diarrhea – which causes dehydration – and infections in newborns, with malnutrition also posing a severe problem. As can be seen above, most countries with a high infant mortality rate are developing countries or emerging countries, most of which are located in Africa. Good health care and hygiene are crucial in reducing child mortality; among the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate are exclusively developed countries, whose inhabitants usually have access to clean water and comprehensive health care. Access to vaccinations, antibiotics and a balanced nutrition also help reducing child mortality in these regions. In some countries, infants are killed if they turn out to be of a certain gender. India, for example, is known as a country where a lot of girls are aborted or killed right after birth, as they are considered to be too expensive for poorer families, who traditionally have to pay a costly dowry on the girl’s wedding day. Interestingly, the global mortality rate among boys is higher than that for girls, which could be due to the fact that more male infants are actually born than female ones. Other theories include a stronger immune system in girls, or more premature births among boys.