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Abortion

When the law should allow abortion, and who should decide.

Last reviewed October 11, 2026

Know

Facts that are not in dispute. Guess first, then see the figure and where it comes from.

Most counts here come from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Its counts are the most complete available and are cited by both sides. Federal figures from the CDC leave out several states, including California, and run about three years behind.

  1. For every 100 births in the United States, about how many abortions are there?

    Slide to make your guess

    There are about 31 abortions for every 100 births in the United States.

    In 2025 there were about 1.13 million abortions and 3.61 million births. Put another way, of pregnancies that ended in either a birth or an abortion, about 24% ended in abortion. Miscarriages are in neither figure. The abortion count is almost unchanged from 2024 and well below the 1990 peak of about 1.6 million. It covers abortions provided by US clinicians and leaves out pills obtained in other ways, so the true total is higher.

    Source: Guttmacher Institute, Full-Year 2025 Estimates Show Overall Stability in Abortion Incidence, Decreased Travel and Increased Telehealth Provision; CDC National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Births down 1% in 2025 (provisional count)

  2. Pregnancy is counted in weeks. From what point does the count start?

    Pregnancy is counted from the first day of the last menstrual period, about two weeks before conception.

    Conception usually happens in week 3 of this count. So "six weeks pregnant" means about four weeks after conception, and roughly two weeks after a missed period. Every week number on this page, and in abortion laws, uses this count.

    Source: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

  3. By about which week of pregnancy does the embryo's heart beat at a regular rhythm?

    Slide to make your guess

    The heart begins to form in week 5 and beats at a regular rhythm by weeks 6 to 7.

    The brain and spinal cord also begin to form in week 5. By week 9 all the essential organs have begun to grow, and at the end of week 10 the embryo is called a fetus. Movement is usually first felt between weeks 19 and 21.

    Source: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

  4. What share of abortions happen in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 93% of abortions happen in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

    About 6% happen between 14 and 20 weeks and about 1% at 21 weeks or later. These are CDC figures for 2022 from the 40 states that report timing.

    Source: Pew Research Center, What the data says about abortion in the US (summarizing CDC figures for 2022)

  5. A baby born at 23 weeks of pregnancy has about what chance of surviving?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 55% of babies born at 23 weeks survive, and about 28% of those born at 22 weeks.

    These figures are from a US study of 10,877 babies born at 22 to 28 weeks, from 2013 to 2018. Of survivors born at 22 to 26 weeks, about half had mild or no developmental problems at age two and about 21% had severe ones. The air sacs of the lungs form around week 26. A normal pregnancy lasts 37 to 42 weeks.

    Source: Stanford Medicine, Premature babies' survival rate is climbing, study says (report on a 2022 study in JAMA); MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

  6. What share of abortions are done with pills instead of a procedure?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 65% of abortions are done with pills.

    That figure is for 2023, up from 53% in 2020. It covers abortions provided by clinicians, including pills prescribed by telehealth and sent by mail.

    Source: Guttmacher Institute, Abortion in the United States (fact sheet)

  7. About 6 in 10 women having an abortion have already given birth at least once.

    CDC figures for 2022 put it at 59% in the 41 states that report it. A separate national survey of patients found about 55%. Most patients, 57%, are in their twenties.

    Source: Pew Research Center, What the data says about abortion in the US (summarizing CDC figures for 2022); Guttmacher Institute, Abortion in the United States (fact sheet)

  8. Since June 2022, each state has set its own abortion law.

    That month the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had set a national rule since 1973. State laws now range from bans at every stage of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, to no limit based on the stage of pregnancy. The list changes often, and the source below tracks it.

    Source: Guttmacher Institute, State Bans on Abortion Throughout Pregnancy

When in pregnancy abortions happen

Share of abortions by stage of pregnancy, 2022, in states reporting to the CDC.

  • 6 weeks or earlier 40%
  • 7 to 13 weeks 53%
  • 14 weeks or later 7%

Source: Guttmacher Institute, Abortion in the United States (fact sheet)

Charts appear here once you have answered or skipped the questions above.

Debate

Questions the facts cannot settle, with the strongest case for each side.

At what point in pregnancy, if any, should the law restrict abortion?

From conception, or close to it

A genetically distinct human organism exists from conception, on an unbroken path to birth. No later line, whether cardiac activity, viability or birth, changes what the embryo or fetus is. Each marks only a stage of development or a degree of dependence, and human rights should not turn on either. Viability also moves with medical technology, which makes it an arbitrary test of who counts. Supporters argue that a just society protects its most vulnerable members, that the law often limits one person's freedom to prevent another's death, and that support for pregnant women, not abortion, is the humane answer to a hard pregnancy.

Not before viability

Pregnancy happens inside a woman's body and reshapes her health, work and family, so the decision must be hers. The law compels no one else to give their body to keep another alive. An embryo has value that grows as it develops, but it is not yet a person whose interests can outweigh hers. Viability, when survival outside her body becomes possible, is a principled point for the state's interest to begin. Supporters argue that bans do not end abortion but push it later, further from home or outside medical care, and fall hardest on women with the least money (what bans have changed is disputed).

Underneath is a disagreement about what makes someone a person with rights, and how those rights weigh against control over one's own body.

Should abortion law be set by each state or for the whole country?

By each state

The Constitution does not mention abortion, so the question belongs to voters and the legislatures they elect. Voters disagree deeply, and the disagreement follows geography. Letting states differ means more people live under laws they accept, and the argument continues through elections and ballot measures instead of being settled by nine judges or a narrow majority in Congress. A national rule in either direction would override millions who think otherwise, and could reverse with each election. Supporters argue that since 2022 voters in conservative and liberal states alike have decided the question directly, which is how self-government is meant to work.

For the whole country

Basic rights should not change at a state line. People on both sides hold this view. Those who see abortion as a fundamental liberty want it guaranteed everywhere, and those who see it as the taking of a human life want that life protected everywhere. A patchwork means that a person's rights, or a fetus's protection, depend on geography and on the money to travel. Pills sent by mail already cross borders, so states cannot fully enforce their own rules in any case. Supporters argue that questions of fundamental rights have never been left to local majorities for long.

Underneath is a disagreement about whether abortion is ordinary policy, where local majorities should rule, or a question of fundamental rights, which should be the same everywhere. This question cuts across the first one, and supporters and opponents of legal abortion are found on both sides of it.

Wording

Terms that frame the argument before it starts. Who uses each one, and what can be checked.

  • "Heartbeat" and "cardiac activity"

    How it is used. Supporters of limits at about six weeks say "heartbeat", which suggests a finished heart. Opponents, and some medical groups, say "cardiac activity", which suggests nothing like a heart is there yet.

    What can be checked. The heart begins to form in week 5, beats at a regular rhythm by weeks 6 to 7, and keeps developing after that. Both terms describe the same thing, and each is chosen for the picture it creates.

    Sources: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

  • "Life begins at conception" and "no one knows when life begins"

    How it is used. The first presents one side's position as settled science. The second presents the whole question as unknowable.

    What can be checked. Biology answers one part. A genetically distinct human organism exists from conception. Biology cannot answer the other part, which is when that organism has rights. Each slogan blurs the two parts, in opposite directions.

    Sources: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

  • "Late-term abortion" and "only 1%"

    How it is used. Opponents of abortion use "late-term" for abortions after about 21 weeks. Supporters of legal abortion answer that these are "only 1%".

    What can be checked. Doctors do use the phrase "late term", but for something else. It is their label for a pregnancy that has run a week past its due date, in week 41. It is not a medical term for any abortion. About 1% of abortions happen at 21 weeks or later. The share is accurate. The national number behind it is not reported, because several states, including California, do not report timing to the CDC.

    Sources: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Committee Opinion 579: Definition of Term Pregnancy; Pew Research Center, What the data says about abortion in the US (summarizing CDC figures for 2022)

  • "Abortion up until birth" and "that never happens"

    How it is used. The first describes what the law allows in some states. The second describes how rare such cases are thought to be.

    What can be checked. Some states set no legal limit based on the stage of pregnancy. The CDC's latest category is "21 weeks or later", so national figures cannot show how many abortions happen in the final three months. The law in those states permits it, and the data cannot say how often it occurs.

    Sources: Guttmacher Institute, State Bans on Abortion Throughout Pregnancy; Pew Research Center, What the data says about abortion in the US (summarizing CDC figures for 2022)

  • Names for the two sides

    How it is used. "Pro-life" and "pro-choice" are each side's name for itself. "Anti-choice", "forced birth", "pro-abortion" and "abortion industry" are each side's names for the other.

    What can be checked. Every one of these labels carries a verdict. This page names positions by what they would do, such as restricting abortion from conception or allowing it until viability.

  • "Baby" and "clump of cells"

    How it is used. "Baby" and "unborn child" assume the moral status that is in dispute. "Clump of cells" and "pregnancy tissue" assume it is absent.

    What can be checked. The medical terms are embryo until the end of week 10 and fetus after that, and this page uses them. "Clump of cells" fits the first days after conception. By week 9 all the essential organs have begun to grow.

    Sources: MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), Fetal development

Uncertain

Questions that have a factual answer in principle, where the evidence is still contested.
What have state bans changed?
The national total has not fallen since 2022, while travel and pills by mail have increased. Two studies published in 2025 estimated that in states with bans, births rose about 1.7% and infant deaths about 6% above what was expected in the first 18 months. Nearly all of the added infant deaths were in Texas, and researchers disagree about how to read both findings. Supporters of bans count the added births as lives saved. Opponents point to the added infant deaths and to delayed medical care. Effects on women's health are still being studied. Sources: Guttmacher Institute, Full-Year 2025 Estimates Show Overall Stability in Abortion Incidence, Decreased Travel and Increased Telehealth Provision; UPI, States with abortion bans have more infant deaths, studies say (report on two studies in JAMA)
How safe is the abortion pill?
The drug's FDA label says serious complications occurred in fewer than 0.5% of patients across trials of more than 30,000 people. In 2025 a conservative think tank reported a rate near 11%, using insurance claims for about 866,000 abortions. Its report was not peer reviewed, and many researchers and the main obstetricians' association dispute how it defined a serious complication. The FDA began its own safety review, which was unfinished as of September 2026. Sources: KFF, Flawed Report Aims to Undercut Established Research on Abortion Pill Safety; Ethics and Public Policy Center, announcement of its study of abortion pill adverse events; Medical Daily, The Federal Mifepristone Safety Review Is Still Unfinished
When can a fetus feel pain?
The long-standing position of major medical bodies is that the brain connections needed to experience pain are not in place before about 24 weeks. A 2020 paper by two researchers argued that the science cannot rule out pain earlier than that. Supporters of earlier limits cite that work, and opponents cite the medical bodies' position. The question is hard to settle because pain is an experience, not only a reflex, and cannot be measured directly. Sources: Derbyshire and Bockmann, Reconsidering fetal pain, Journal of Medical Ethics

Sources