A recent survey from the Guttmacher Institute documented an 8 percent rise in the number of abortions performed in the U.S. from 2017-20, reversing what had been a nearly three-decade decline in women opting to terminate their pregnancies.
But a closer look at the findings, drawn from a comprehensive survey of every known facility providing abortions in the U.S., reveals wide variation in abortion trends among the states. While 33 states reported a rise in abortion numbers, 17 states reported declines. And the swings up or down are striking.
Among the states that saw the biggest increases: Oklahoma (+103 percent); Mississippi (+40 percent); Idaho (+31 percent); Kentucky (+28 percent); and New Mexico (+27 percent). Among the states with the biggest declines: Missouri (-96 percent); South Dakota (-74 percent); West Virginia (-31 percent); Wyoming (-29 percent); and Louisiana (-26 percent).
Notably, states such as California and New York, which have pushed to expand abortion funding and services in recent years, saw less dramatic gains of 16 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
Guttmacher, a research organization that supports abortion rights, noted that some of the state-level swings were interwoven, as women in states that have enacted laws restricting abortion access crossed into neighboring states to seek care. This is thought to be a driving factor behind the 103 percent surge in Oklahoma, where women from Texas -- a state with some of the nation's strictest abortion laws -- sought care before Oklahoma in May adopted its own ban on nearly all abortions.
The report's authors cited other factors, as well, including state-level variations in access to government funding for abortion care for low-income women, and regulations issued by the Trump administration that disrupted the nation's network of Title X family planning clinics, a vital source of low- or no-cost contraception. The Biden administration has since replaced those regulations.
This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.