Michael J. New, an assistant professor at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, says before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion numbers were going up a lot. Today, that is not the case.
His related National Review op-ed relays that new estimates from the Guttmacher Institute's Monthly Abortion Provision Study indicate that 1,038,100 abortions were performed in 2024 – less than a 1% increase from 2023.
That, he says, is consistent with a trend of increasing abortion numbers that began in 2017, but the estimates provide some useful information to pro-lifers; they add to a body of data showing that policy decisions have a significant impact on the incidence of abortion.
"Florida started enforcing a heartbeat act in 2024, and their abortion numbers fell by 12,000," New notes. "South Carolina started enforcing a heartbeat act in 2023, and their abortion numbers fell by 36%."
That is the largest percentage decline in the United States.
"So, even though the overall numbers are not showing the declines that we'd like, they do show evidence that good state policies are having an impact," the pro-lifer submits.
According to Guttmacher, the "stability" in abortion numbers "masks major shifts in access." Katie Brown Xavios of American Life League (ALL) says their numbers for at-home chemical abortions match up with Guttmacher's, which is basically just the research arm of Planned Parenthood.
"One of the data points that we highlighted is that they say that 14% of all abortions are now done by what they call 'online-only clinics,'" Xavios tells AFN.
Her organization identifies those as the "abortion pill drug cartel."
"They exist solely to send abortion pills into states with pro-life laws or pro-life restrictions in place, and they oftentimes operate out of foreign countries," Xavios explains.
The point is Guttmacher's preliminary abortion report for 2023-2024 confirms what ALL reported in the fall. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, abortions done by the two-pill regimen involving mifepristone and misoprostol have become the most prevalent method of abortion in the country.
The Guttmacher Institute reported in 2024 that 63% of all U.S. abortions were done by pills alone in 2023, and Planned Parenthood's CEO shared that nearly 70% of its abortion patients choose chemical abortion.
"They even went on so far as to say that while their data says it's 14%, they recognize that that number is much larger – double, if not even triple that because of laws that are in place," the ALL director notes.
Those shield laws do not require any kind of reporting when abortion pills come into states with pro-life laws. ALL is exposing how people, especially those in those states, are accessing abortion pills at such an astonishing rate.
