Abortions rose in 2020, marking first increase in 30 years as Dobbs decision looms

More women received abortions in the United States during 2020 than in the decades prior, reversing recent trends and marking the first increase in the number of abortions in more than 30 years.

Roughly 930,160 abortions were performed in 2020, marking a 1% increase from the year before and an 8% increase from 2017, equaling out to about 1 in 5 pregnancies that year, according to data from the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute. At the same time, the country reported a 6% decline in births from 2017 to 2020, with 3.6 million babies being born over the three-year period.