The Guttmacher Institute recently released a paper which finds the number of abortions performed in the United States continued to decline between 2008 and 2011. In 2011, they claim there were 1.06 million abortions performed in the United States. This would put the abortion rate at 16.9 per 1,000 women (aged 15-44) and would be the lowest rate since 1973. Their previous report found that 1.21 million abortions were performed in 2008.
The Guttmacher Institute is the former research arm of Planned Parenthood, America’s leading abortion provider. They attempt to obtain an annual number of abortions in the U.S. by surveying abortion providers. In many cases, they have to estimate how many abortions they believe a provider performed.
