Since 1973, abortion rights case Roe v. Wade has remained one of the Supreme Court’s most controversial, highly-debated decisions. However, abortion is more complicated than one case. For Roe’s 49th anniversary on Jan. 22, here are 12 important facts about abortion you should know.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 629,898 abortions were reported performed in the United States in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.
Nearly 60% of people who have an abortion already have at least one child, according to CDC data from 2019. Of those, more than half have given birth to two or more kids.
The cost of an abortion largely depends on three factors: How far along a pregnancy is; insurance, Medicaid, or other forms of funding; and where the procedure is performed.
At around 10 weeks gestation, the average cost of an abortion is around $500. However, at 20 weeks, the cost soars to $1,195 or more, per the Kaiser Family Foundation. The further along a patient is in their pregnancy, the more costly abortion care will be.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 9% of abortions are performed on patients under age 19, 57% are performed on patients aged 20 to 29, 31% are performed on patients aged 30 to 39, and 4% are performed on patients aged 40 and above.
According to a 2017 study from The Lancet Public Health journal, patients in the United States traveled an average of 11 miles to obtain abortion care. But in some rural areas, people had to travel more than 180 miles to access care.
Around 92.2% of abortions are performed during the first trimester, less than 13 weeks into a pregnancy. Around 7% take place between 14-20 weeks and only 1% happen past 21 weeks, per data from the CDC.
As of June 2021, five states have only one abortion clinic: North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, almost 90% of state counties don’t have a known abortion provider.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 12 states across the nation have “trigger” laws to outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, including Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
Per national data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 33% of patients who receive abortion care are white; 38% are Black; 21% are Hispanic; and 7% are Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a total of 108 legal restrictions on abortion were passed in the United States in 2021 — far surpassing the previous record of 89 restrictions passed in 2011.