Florida remained America’s abortion hotspot in the first months after Roe v Wade was overturned, new CDC data shows.
The Sunshine State recorded the most abortions in the nation in 2022, with 82,581, according to the first annual report on abortions nationwide since abortion access was eliminated at the federal level in June of that year.
This was almost 50 percent higher than the number in Illinois, which recorded 56,457 abortions, and New York City, which recorded 46,373, and more than in similarly red states like Texas, which recorded 17,514 in the same year.
When broken down by rate, which represents population size, New Mexico was the top state in the country, followed by Illinois and Kansas. Florida came in fourth place.
The report showed that the total number of abortions fell two percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, and five percent less than almost a decade ago.
More than 92.8 percent of abortions were performed before the 13th week of pregnancy and 78.6 percent before the 9th week. Only 1.1 percent of abortions were recorded after 21 weeks of pregnancy. gestation, for a total of 4,896.
All age groups experienced a decline over the year, except women ages 30 to 34, among whom abortions increased slightly.
Doctors say that a fetus is only viable outside the womb after about 24 weeks.
The map above shows the abortion rate by state. It reveals that New Mexico has the highest rate. By total number of abortions, Florida is the critical point in the country
The CDC contacted all 50 US states and requested data on the number of abortions recorded in their area for the year 2022.
Several states did not provide data for the report, including California, the nation’s most populous state, Maryland and New Jersey.
Florida has been America’s abortion hotspot since 2020, when it overtook New York state, allowing abortions up to the 26th week of pregnancy until June 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
The following month, the state passed a ban on abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, and in May 2024, a ban on abortion at six weeks went into effect.
In 2022 and 2023, the 15-week limit made the state a key hotspot for abortions in the South, where many other states adopted more restrictive bans. Neighboring Alabama, for example, has banned abortions at all stages of pregnancy.
Attempts to change Florida’s ban to 24 weeks were defeated at the polls this month after only 57 percent of Floridians voted in favor, below the 60 percent threshold needed to pass the measure.
Donald Trump has previously described Florida’s abortion ban, which goes into effect before many women realize they are pregnant, is a “terrible mistake.”
When comparing states by abortion rate, which takes into account differences in population size, New Mexico has the highest abortion rate in the country with 28.8 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.
In second place was Illinois, with 22.8 per 1,000, and Kansas was in third place, with 21.6 per 1,000. By rate, Florida ranked fourth with 20.5 per 1,000.
The graph above shows the total number of abortions over time. They fell two percent between 2021 and 2022
At the other end of the scale, Missouri had the lowest abortion rate of all states: 0.1 per 1,000 (or 88 abortions) in 2022.
South Dakota had the second lowest, at 0.8 per 1,000, and West Virginia, Oklahoma and Idaho had the third lowest at 2.7 per 1,000.
States with the highest abortion rates often also performed abortions on out-of-state women as well as residents.
In New Mexico, 62 percent of abortions were for women who came from out of state, and in Illinois about 30 percent of abortions were performed for this group.
New Mexico borders Texas and Oklahoma, which have some of the strictest limits on abortion in the country, and do not allow abortion after six weeks, even in cases of rape or incest.
Missouri was the first state to make virtually all abortions illegal in the US after banning all but medically necessary abortions in June 2022.
This month, however, the ban was overturned at the polls by 52 to 48 percent, and the state now moves to allowing abortions up to 24 weeks, when the fetus is viable outside the womb.
South Dakota passed a similarly restrictive abortion ban in June 2022, and a measure to repeal it was defeated this month after just 39 percent of residents voted in favor of expanding it.
Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, said the guardian: ‘(These data) really speak of a (division) of access.
‘On the one hand, there are many states where access to abortion has become incredibly difficult: states with total bans, states with six-week bans.
‘And then on the other hand… we estimate that in 2023 around 168,000 (women) traveled across state lines to access abortion services, which is more than double the number of people who traveled in 2019 or 2020. ‘
She added: “This speaks to the way in which (women) are doing everything they can, often with a lot of support from many other organizations, to be able to access abortion services when they need them.”
CDC data also showed that in 2022, the highest percentage of abortions were performed as early medication abortion, before 9 weeks: more than 53.3 percent.
Surgical abortion before 13 weeks was the second most common method, at 35.5 percent, while 6.9 percent of abortions were performed surgically after 13 weeks.
Donald Trump appointed Dr. Dave Weldon to lead the CDC, who co-authored the “Weldon Amendment” that prohibited the Department of Health and Human Services from “discriminating” against health insurance plans that did not cover abortions.