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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.