WASHINGTON — Ahead of a historic Supreme Court decision on the fate of Roe v. Wade, the nation recorded its first significant increase in the abortion rate in more than three decades, according to new statistics.
The rate rose 7%, from 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women and girls of child-bearing age in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
Overall, there were 930,160 abortions in the United States in 2020, up 8% from 862,320 in 2017.