WASHINGTON – The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today released The State of Abortion in the United States, 2023. The tenth annual edition, which comes just seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, summarizes key legislative developments on the state and federal level since Dobbs, and analyzes the data on the annual number of abortions in the United States.
This year’s report also takes a detailed look at attacks by the Biden Administration on the Hyde Amendment, which has prevented federal funding of elective abortion in Medicaid since 1976. In addition, it contains an in-depth look at accelerating efforts to resurrect, by extra-constitutional means, the long-expired Equal Rights Amendment, and explains the sweeping impact that the ERA could have on abortion law (an impact once denied but now proclaimed by prominent pro-abortion advocates).
“Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, we have seen the state of abortion in the United States shift dramatically as many states moved to enact laws that would protect unborn children and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Pro-life education and legislative efforts are making an impact on our culture and in the lives of women facing unexpected pregnancies. But there is still much to be done.”
Key highlights from the report include:
-While the trends in abortion data through 2020 released by both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute differ (with the CDC showing a slight decline and Guttmacher showing a slight increase), both agree on one thing: a large majority of abortions are now done using chemical abortion – a method that puts women at increased risk. This comes as the Biden Administration works to remove safety precautions and other regulations designed to protect women from the potentially deadly consequences of self-managed abortion.
-Based on data from the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute, National Right to Life now estimates that 64,443,118 abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973.
-In the months following Dobbs, several states have moved to enact laws designed to provide maximum protections from abortion to unborn children and their mothers. However, according the National Right to Life Department of State Legislation, as examined in the report, 23 states have guaranteed a right to abortion by court decision, constitutional amendment or state legislative statute.
The report is available from the National Right to Life Communications Department here:
http://www.nrlc.org/uploads/communications/stateofabortion2023.pdf
National Right to Life experts, including President Carol Tobias; Director of Education and Research Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D.; Legislative Director Jennifer Popik, J.D.; and (on the Equal Rights Amendment) Senior Policy Advisor Douglas D. Johnson, are available to provide further information about the report and its insights. To arrange an interview, call the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825 or email mediarelations@nrlc.org.
Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.