Roe v Wade: how many abortions in Texas and US states - and which states have banned abortion

Hundreds of thousands of women could be forced to continue pregnancies every year in the USA, analysis by NationalWorld reveals, following the overturning of Roe v Wade and subsequent abortion bans in several states.

It means almost 1,000 fewer women could access abortion care every day on average.

The latest figures published by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organisation, shows just under a million (930,000) abortions were carried out in the US in 2020.

Additional analysis by NationalWorld found 330,000 abortions were carried out in 2020 in states where abortion is now either completely banned or extremely restricted. The Guttmacher Institute anticipates all of these states will likely implement a ban or have severely restricted access.

It is the equivalent of 903 women a day no longer having access to abortion services.

Texas, which now has a complete ban on abortions, recorded the fourth highest number of abortions of any state in 2020, with 58,000 in total.

The so-called Heart Beat bill, which prevents abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, was passed in Texas in 2021 and severely restricted access to abortions even before the Supreme Court ruling.

Across all the states where the Guttmacher Institute now expects a ban or have very restricted access, including those that do not currently have the highest level of restrictions, 363,000 women got an abortion in 2020.

But even before the Supreme Court judgement abortion access for women in some states was extremely restricted. Restrictions include gestational age bans, waiting periods, insurance coverage bans and medication abortion restrictions.

Missouri, which has also banned abortions, recorded some of the lowest abortion figures in the US during 2020, recording just 170 in total – 107 times lower than the annual average across all 51 states of 18,239.

The state’s abortion rate was also the lowest in the country, recording a rate of 0.1 abortions per 1,000 women – 144 times lower than the US average of 14.4. Population rates are based on the number of women aged 15 to 44.

It is a similar situation for South Dakota which also now has a total ban on abortion. The state only recorded 170 abortions in 2020 and a rate of 0.8.

The interactive map below will show you which US states had the highest abortion rates in 2020.

In contrast states with no or fewer restrictions and more protective policies had much higher figures. Protective policies include state constitutional protections, abortion funding, insurance coverage for abortion, and protections for patients and clinic staff.

District of Columbia (Washington DC) had the highest abortion rate in 2020 recording 48.9 abortions per 1,000 women. In total 9,400 abortions were carried out.

California and New York, both with protective abortion policies, had the greatest total number of abortions in 2020 recording 154,000 and 110,000 respectively.

How are US abortion figures changing?

Guttmacher Institute figures show abortions in America increased by 8% between 2017 and 2020, rising from 862,320 to 930,160.

Oklahoma had the greatest increase in abortion numbers with the figure surging 103% from 4,780 to 9,690 between 2017 and 2020. Oklahoma’s abortion rate also increased more than any other state, rising 100% from 6.2 per 1,000 women in 2017 to 12.4 in 2020.

The District of Columbia saw the second largest increase in abortion figures during the time period, rising 67% from 5,630 to 9,410, followed by Mississippi which increased by 40% from 5,630 to 9,410.

While some states have seen an increase in abortion figures, some have seen a dramatic decline.

Missouri recorded a significant drop in abortion figures during the same time period, recording 4,710 in 2017 to 170 in 2020, representing a 96% decrease.

The Guttmacher Institute said there was no clear pattern to explain why states had increases or decreases but provided some background context for some states, including Missouri, which had seen a substantial increase in the number of residents who had sought abortions in neighbouring Illinois which has protective policies.

A third of states saw a decline in abortion figures during the time period including Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana.

The chart below will show you how abortion figures have changed across each state.

Who gets abortions?

Separate figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show women aged 25 to 29 were most likely to have an abortion in 2019. The age group represented 29.3% of all abortions that year, followed by the 20 to 24 age group which represented 27.8% of all abortions.

Black women were also found to have the higher abortion rates than white and hispanic women, recording a rate of 23.8 per 1,000 women in 2019.

White women recorded an abortion rate of 6.6, while hispanic women had a rate of 11.7. Women with ‘Other’ ethnicities had a rate of 13.0.

Married woman accounted for 14.5% of abortions in 2019 (one in seven) with unmarried women making up 85.5%.

Where is abortion being banned?

Friday’s (24 June) ruling has already seen abortion clinics close across the country as states are now free to choose their own abortion laws.

The Guttmacher Institute anticipates that 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion.

The organisation has analysed state policies relating to abortion that are currently in effect and the interactive map below will show you how restrictive or protected abortion access is in each state. This information was correct as of 24 June.