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The abortion rate in the United States has steadily decreased from a peak in 1980 of 30 per 1,000 women to 11.3 per 1,000 women by 2018. In 2018, 78 percent of abortions were executed at nine weeks of pregnancy or less, and 92 percent of abortions were performed at 13 weeks gestation or less. By 2020, we consider medication abortions for over 50 percent of all abortions. Nearly 25 percent of women will have had an abortion by age 45, with 20 percent of 30-year-olds having had one.
Support for abortion gradually grew in the United States after the original Roe v. Wade ruling in January 1973 but stabilized during the 2010s.
But in 2022, Roe v. Wade was repealed in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, finishing federal abortion rights and allowing individual U.S. states to determine their abortion laws.
The availability of abortion in approximately half of the United States has altered rapidly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. Medical personnel, patients, and lawyers are now trying not to get confused with antiabortion legislation, some of it created a century ago.
The thirteen U.S. states (Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming) enacted trigger laws that would automatically ban abortion if Roe were struck down.
In 20 U.S. states and D.C., abortion is legal and likely to be protected.
The map below accounts for laws that would ban abortions.
In U.S. states where abortion is currently prohibited or set to be banned in the near future, residents tend to show the lowest levels of support for legal abortion.
The map of the United States created by Reddit user crazyboyhere using the American Values Atlas data shows U.S. states by the percentage of people who support abortion.
According to the map, the highest support for abortion is in Nevada (80%), while the lowest is in Utah (42%).
Legal status of abortion in the world
In 2021, Ipsos surveyed over 20 thousand adults under the age of 75 in 27 nations. Results of several last surveys show that support for the legal status of abortions is softening not only in the United States but also in Western Europe.
The world map below shows the share of respondents in Europe and America who agreed with: “Abortion should be permitted whenever a woman wants one” according to the Ipsos survey conducted in 2021.
The maps below show abortion legality in Europe and Latin America.
Abortion legality in EuropeAbortion law by country in Latin America
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