A new report attributes the rise in the number of abortions in recent years to the increased prevalence of and access to abortion pills.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, released a new study on June 9 titled “Inducing Demand for Abortion in the Absence of Medical Necessity: Planned Parenthood and Abortion Drugs.” The report, published in Volume 8, Issue 2 of the Fortune Journal of Health Sciences, documented abortion statistics nationwide over time, specifically focusing on Planned Parenthood and chemical abortions.
Data included in the report showed the number of abortions committed each year since 1999, as well as the share carried out at Planned Parenthood facilities, along with the number of chemical abortions that took place and the share of chemical abortions as a percentage of total abortions.
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In 1999, Planned Parenthood carried out 13.9% of the more than 1.3 million abortions that year. In 2023, that figure reached 38.8%, coming in just short of the record high of 41.2% recorded in 2020.
The number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood increased from 182,792 in 1999 to 402,230 in 2023. This amounts to a 120% increase. At the same time, the number of abortions performed at abortion facilities other than Planned Parenthood dropped from 1,131,988 in 1999 to 634,770 in 2023. This constitutes a decrease of 44%.
The number of abortions performed per year was at its highest in 1999. The figure remained above 1 million through 2012 and continuously declined from 2008 until 2017, when it reached a low of 862,320. Since 2018, the number of abortions has consistently risen and was measured at 1,037,000 in 2023.
The study suggests that the rise in the abortion pill, also known as chemical abortions and by its prescription drug name mifepristone, is the reason why the number of abortions has increased. In 1999 and 2000, statistics on the number of chemical abortions as a percentage of total abortions were unavailable, as the Food and Drug Administration did not approve the abortion pill until 2000.
In 2001, chemical abortions accounted for 5% of abortions. That figure rose every year for more than two decades, reaching a high of 63% in 2023.
The report attributed the rise in chemical abortions as a percentage of total abortions to a series of decisions made by the FDA: the 2016 moves to allow the use of the abortion pill through 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of its initial safety cap of seven weeks, then allowing medical employees other than doctors to prescribe the abortion pill, followed by removing the requirement that prescribers report any adverse events other than death.
The study also cited the FDA’s 2021 decisions to eliminate the requirement that women first visit a doctor in person before obtaining abortion pills, and allowing women to obtain abortion pills by mail, as well as the 2023 move to allow pharmacies to dispense the abortion pill as factors behind the “persistent increase of abortion drug dominance over the abortion market.”
In a statement reacting to the study’s findings, Charlotte Lozier Institute Vice President and Director of Data Analytics James Studnicki declared, “Planned Parenthood has transformed itself into the dominant provider of abortion in the United States.”
Studnicki, the lead author of the study, added, “Their strategic pivot toward abortion, coupled with the rise of abortion drugs, has fundamentally reshaped the abortion landscape.”
“This troubling reversal of nearly 30 years of progress in reducing abortions underscores how an industry can actively drive demand for abortions on healthy moms with healthy babies,” Studnicki stated.
The publication of the report comes at a time when the Trump administration is conducting a review of the abortion pill in light of a report published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center last month that found the rate of adverse events experienced by women who take the abortion pill was 10.7% and not the 0.5% cited based on FDA clinical trials. Examples of adverse events include serious complications such as sepsis and hemorrhaging.
The report only includes one full year of statistics following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion. While the Dobbs ruling caused the number of abortions to plummet in states that enacted full or partial restrictions on abortion following the decision, the decrease in abortions in pro-life states was largely canceled out by access to the abortion pill.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
