As of March 2024, among U.S. adults who believe that abortion should be restricted at all times during a pregnancy, 63 percent were in favor of allowing abortion if the person's life is endangered by the pregnancy. For selected circumstances, except for when the fetus is diagnosed with a serious disability, anti-abortion supporters in the U.S. were likely to favor exceptions to abortion restriction.

In 2024, around 54 percent of adults in the United States stated they considerd themselves pro-choice, meaning they would leave the decision to abort a pregnancy up to the pregnant woman. Pro-life supporters, which made up 41 percent at that time, oppose abortion altogether. Abortion in the United States Abortion and the question whether one is pro-life (and thus against abortion) or pro-choice (i.e. in favor of abortion) is a controversial topic in the United States and the subject of many heated discussions. Before the notorious “Roe vs. Wade” decision of the Supreme Court in 1973, abortion was illegal in most U.S. states and only legal under certain circumstances in others. In short, the case “Roe vs. Wade” was a milestone in granting women freedom over their own body, making abortion legal, as it ruled that a woman’s right to privacy included her unborn child, and set regulations for the availability of abortions. However, in June of 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, making it possible for states to choose to completely ban abortion. As a result, around half of U.S. states were expected to ban the procedure. Pro-life and Pro-choice Ever since this decision, there have been two main mindsets (with many variations) when it comes to abortion. One is the pro-life attitude, which deems abortion murder and considers life starting at conception. The other is the pro-choice movement, which focuses on the well-being of the mother and insists that the woman alone should decide whether she wants to keep a baby or not. Politically, pro-lifers are usually seen as conservative, often belonging to the Republican camp, while pro-choicers are usually regarded as liberals who lean towards the Democrats. Of course, exceptions are not uncommon.

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.

The rate of legal abortions in the United States has decreased over the last few decades. In 2022, there were around 19.9 legal abortions per 100 live births, whereas the rate was 34 abortions per 100 live births in the year 1990. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022, states within the U.S. have the right to severely limit or completely ban abortion if they wish, meaning that access to such procedures varies significantly depending on the state or region. Abortion in the U.S. In 2022, there were over 613,000 legal abortions in the United States. Abortion rates in the U.S. are highest among women aged 25 to 29 years and more common among unmarried women than those who are married. In 2022, there were approximately 38 legal abortions per 100 live births among unmarried women compared to four abortions per 100 live births among women who were married.
Public opinion The issue of abortion has been and remains a divisive topic among the general public and continues to be a relevant political issue. As of May 2023, around 44 percent of the population was estimated to be pro-life, while 52 percent were pro-choice and three percent mixed or neither. However, this distribution has fluctuated over the years, with pro-lifers accounting for a larger percentage than pro-choicers as recently as 2019.

This statistic shows the results of a 2013 survey among Americans on whether they considered the majority of Americans to be pro-choice or pro-life. In 2013, 51 percent of respondents stated they thought most Americans were pro-choice. According to the same survey, 48 percent of respondents stated they were in fact pro-choice, while 45 percent stated they were pro-life.

Higher levels of education in the United States appear to correlate with support for the legalization of abortion, with 48 percent of college graduates in a 2024 survey stating they support the legalization of abortion under any circumstance. Support dropped to 28 percent for respondents who did not go to college at all.

Younger adults in the United States are far more likely to support the legalization of abortion, with a 2024 survey finding that 34 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 29 years favored the legalization of abortion under any circumstance. This position was supported by just 19 percent of adults over 65.

Abortion remains a controversial topic in the United States and has been an exceptionally political topic since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. This ruling has allowed individual states to completely ban the procedure if they choose, which a number of states have since done. In 2022, the year of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the highest rates of legal abortion in the United States were among women aged 25 to 29 years, with around 18.7 abortions per 1,000 women. How many abortions are there in the United States each year? In 2022, there were an estimated 613,000 legal abortions in the United States. This was a decrease from the year before, and in general, the number of legal abortions per year in the U.S. has decreased since the late 1990s. The rate of abortion has also decreased significantly. In 1997, the rate of legal abortions per 100 live births was 30.6, but this had dropped to 19.9 per 100 live births by the year 2022. At that time, the states with the highest rates of abortion were New Mexico, Illinois, and Kansas. Public opinion on abortion As of 2023, around 52 percent of U.S. adults considered themselves pro-choice, while 44 percent were pro-life. However, these numbers have fluctuated over the years, with a larger share of people identifying as pro-life just four years earlier. Nevertheless, a poll from 2024 showed that only a small minority of U.S. adults want abortion to be illegal in all cases, with younger people more likely to support the legalization of abortion in any circumstance. Furthermore, surveys have shown that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, U.S. adults have expressed being much more dissatisfied with abortion policy in the country, desiring less strict policy.

In 2022, around 39 percent of legal abortions reported in the state of Texas were among Hispanics, while Black women accounted for 30 percent and white women 26 percent. Abortion has long been a controversial topic in the United States, with the issue once again becoming a major topic in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing individual states to completely ban abortion if they so choose. Abortion in Texas In 2022, there were around 17,500 legal abortions reported in Texas, the eleventh highest number among all U.S. states. This was a large drop from the year prior, when Texas had the third-highest number of abortions in the United States. Concerning the rate of abortion per 100,000 population, Texas was ranked 42nd, with just 2.8 abortions per 100,000 population. In comparison, in Florida that year there were 20.5 abortions per 100,000 population, the fourth-highest rate among the states. Texas was one of a number of states with a so-called “trigger law”, which, in response to the Supreme Court decision in 2022, automatically banned abortions in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Under the new law, performing an abortion is a felony, punishable by up to life in prison. Public opinion Opinions in the United States on abortion are often divided between those who are “pro-choice” and those who are “pro-life”. Polls have shown that the share of those who identify with each side has fluctuated over the years, but a survey from 2023 found that around 52 percent of adults considered themselves pro-choice, while 44 percent were pro-life. Younger people more often believe abortion should be legal under any circumstance than older people, but only a minority across the age groups believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. In fact, despite several states, such as Texas, completely banning abortion, a survey from 2023 found that 55 percent of U.S. adults believed abortion should be permitted either whenever a woman decides to or under given circumstances.

Among respondents surveyed in 29 countries, Sweden and France had the largest population in favor of abortion. The Netherlands followed with 76 percent of respondents in favor. On the contrary, India, Malaysia and Indonesia had the lowest percentages of people in favor of abortion.

The primary purposes of this 1999 panel survey were to gauge ambivalence about abortion rights and to assess general knowledge and feelings about a variety of political issues. Data was gathered via a two-wave telephone panel survey of registered voters in the state of Florida. Respondents were asked a wide variety of political questions including feeling thermometer ratings for several politicians and political groups such as President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the Republican Party, and the Pro-Life Movement. They were asked to rate job performance for President Clinton, Governor Bush, and the Congress among others. Respondents were asked how they would vote in a presidential election between Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore and in a general election between Democrats and Republicans if one were held that day. In addition, the survey included a series of questions designed to measure general political knowledge, including how much of a majority is required for the United States Senate and House of Representatives to override a presidential veto and whose responsibility it is to determine whether or not a law is constitutional. Respondents were also asked how much they followed government and public affairs in the news. The remaining questions concerned the abortion issue. Respondents were first asked to rate how positively they felt about a series of abortion policy statements and were instructed to discard any negative feelings. Later in the interview, respondents were read the same series of abortion policy statements and were then asked to rate how negatively they felt about the statements, while attempting to discard any positive feelings. The statements included the assertions that a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she becomes pregnant as a result of rape and that a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she wants one for any reason. Additional questions addressed premarital sex, traditional family values, interpretation of the Bible, and women's equality. Background information on respondents includes level of education, information on religious beliefs and practices, ethnicity, marital and familial status, age, and sex.

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.

It is perhaps no surprise that adults in the United States who identify as Democrats are far more likely to favor the legalization of abortion, with 42 percent of Democrats surveyed in 2024 supporting the legalization of abortion under any circumstance. This position was supported by only six percent of Republicans.

This statistic shows the level of support, by gender, for changing the law in Ireland to allow women the right to have an abortion (as of 2018). Although the majority of both male and female respondents support changing the law, the level of support is higher among female respondents. Male respondents who do not support changing the law make up 28 percent of respondents, the same percentage as the female respondents. It is the 13 percent of males who have no opinion that bring the support levels for male respondents below females in this survey.

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.

The abortion rate decreased by 100 percent in 13 states in the U.S. between April 2022 and June 2023. In June of 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned its ruling on Roe v. Wade, the case that protected the right to terminate a pregnancy. Roe v. Wade In June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling that overturned the 1973 case, Roe v. Wade. Since then, 12 states have completely banned abortion, while other state’s place time limits on abortion. The new ruling – outlined in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – was an extremely divisive decision and caused considerable controversy and backlash. More than half of the American population considers themselves to be “pro-choice,” and even religiously affiliated Americans generally do not think that abortion should be illegal in all cases. While the Roe v. Wade ruling did not make abortion outright illegal, it did hand back the power to make decisions regarding abortion rights back to state legislatures. The ruling has placed millions of women at risk, and healthcare providers in legal limbo as to what kinds of procedures they are permitted to perform. Changes in the abortion rate The United States has seen a gradual decline in its abortion rate over the last decades. In the months following the Supreme Court decision, the abortion rate in each state has changed in different ways. States friendly to abortion that border states with more restrictive abortion policies have seen the most dramatic increases in performed abortions. Kansas, for example, saw a 72.2 percent increase in abortions after the nearby states of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas increased restrictions. A similar story has played out in North Carolina, where abortions increased by 44.6 percent. In this case, the nearby states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee became less friendly to abortion. While the possibility to travel to a neighboring state to receive care is not illegal, it can be markedly expensive. This means that ultimately, people with lower incomes will have a disproportionately difficult time accessing abortion care.

According to a 2024 survey, 29 percent adults in the United States earning less than 50,000 U.S. dollars per year favored outlawing abortions under any circumstance. This statistic shows the percent of U.S. adults who thought abortion should be legal under certain circumstances in 2024, by income level.

In a survey conducted in September 2019, around 53 percent of respondents in Mexico City agreed with the statement "The law must allow women the right to abortion". In Oaxaca, state which decriminalized abortion in 2019, only 27 percent of respondents were in favor of women's right to abortion. Mexico City, Oaxaca, Hidalgo, and Veracruz are the only jurisdictions in Mexico where abortion is decriminalized within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.

When surveyed in late August 2022, Canadians most likely to support legislation restricting access to abortion were also the least likely to contribute more in income taxes to help improve the situation for single parents. For example, 58 percent of those in favor of restricting access to abortion were willing to pay one or two percent more in income taxes to fund programs to support the children of single mothers, compared to 72 percent of those in favor of a law guaranteeing access to abortion. In addition, only 20 percent of those who wanted to restrict abortion supported making contraception available to everyone. This is consistent with the United States, where states that ban abortion have some of the weakest social safety nets in the country.

In 2021, policies surrounding abortion varied greatly from one European country to another. According to this ranking, based on the legal status of abortion, access, clinical care, delivery, and availability of relevant information, Sweden and Iceland had the most permissive and effective policies in Europe. On the other hand, Andorra and Malta held the last position in the ranking. In Andorra, a small state bordering France and Spain, abortion is illegal.