Guttmacher revises abortion numbers for recent years, revealing more lives lost

Abortion numbers are increasing, nearing levels we have not seen in the U.S. since 2011 — and recently revised statistics from the Guttmacher Institute reveal they're increasing more than we were originally told.

We now end the lives of nearly 3,000 preborn babies by abortion every day in America, but that death toll is likely far greater, given the large numbers of uncounted chemical abortions happening across the country, even in pro-life states.

Key Takeaways:

• Updated Guttmacher numbers reveal a 13% increase in abortions from 2020 to 2024.

• Original estimates issued by the pro-abortion group have been revised for 2023 and 2024, revealing more abortions than previously published. Using those updated numbers, we estimate nearly 65 million abortions took place from 1973 to mid-2025.

• After the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Guttmacher changed its reporting methodology and began to publish less accurate estimates on a monthly basis which are frequently revised.

• The group bemoaned the various ways that the Trump administration has scaled back the way the government has propped up the abortion industry and its cohorts for years.

The Backstory:

Beginning in 2017, the United States saw the end of a long-term decline in abortions, with numbers beginning to tick upward once again each year. By 2020, abortions totaled 930,160 — an increase of nearly 8% from 2017.

Then, in May of 2024, the Guttmacher Institute (once the research arm and "special affiliate" of Planned Parenthood) updated its total abortion estimate for 2023, revealing that 1,037,000 abortions were recorded by the formal health care system that year (which did not include chemical abortions obtained from online pharmacies, etc.). This time, the increase over three years was in the double digits, revealing a spike of 11.5% from 2020.

In April 2025, the Guttmacher Institute published a Monthly Abortion Provision Study for 2024 showing “1,038,100 clinician-provided abortions in states without total abortion bans in 2024, an increase of less than 1% from 2023.” This was higher than its previous 2024 estimate published in March.

At that time, Guttmacher claimed that “[t]he overall stability in the number of abortions in states without total bans continued despite shifts in policy that have increased obstacles to accessing this care in many states.”

The Details:

Guttmacher's revised data reveals more abortions

A September 2025 update from Guttmacher shows that there were more abortions in both 2023 and 2024 than previously reported. But that wasn't the end of it; an October 2025 revision has already been added — revealing additional numbers from 2023, 2024, and a half-year for 2025.

The graphic below does not yet reflect the latest change:

October's revision shows:

• 2023: 1,037,950 (up less than 1% from the 1,037,000 previously reported), resulting in nearly 2,844 abortions per day, nearly 20K per week, and over 86K per month.

• 2024: 1,053,470 (up 1.5% from the 1,038,100 previously reported). This shows an estimated 2,886 reported abortions per day, 20,259 per week, and nearly 88K a month for that year.

Guttmacher claimed that by the end of 2024, there had been "an increase of 11% since 2020" but the October update actually reveals an increase of over 13% (13.25%) from 2020.

In past years, Guttmacher collected abortion surveys from providers. Due to the time involved in collecting and analyzing the data, its abortion reports were generally a few years behind the most current numbers. After the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, Guttmacher changed its methodology and reporting, publishing a far less accurate "Monthly Provision" of abortion numbers — with multiple updates and changes along the way.

Guttmacher states on its Monthly Abortion Provision dashboard (emphasis added):

"We update prior estimates monthly using data from a new sample of facilities, all of which provide data for the current month, as well as for past months in the current calendar year.

As more data are collected, our estimates for past months get more accurate, so estimates may shift and uncertainty intervals will shrink.

If you want to access the estimates as of the time they were published in any given month, they are available on the OSF website."

The group's latest 2025 Impact Report added:

• In 2024, 155,000 people traveled across state lines for an abortion, nearly 2x the number before the Dobbs decision.

• In 2023, 63% of all abortions in the United States were via medication [abortion drugs], up from 53% in 2020.

An estimated 170K (2023) and 155K (2024) women traveled to obtain abortions in those years, indicating that traveling for an abortion may be decreasing.

Guttmacher abortion numbers are estimates

Guttmacher's annual abortion numbers are an "estimation," as Guttmacher "does not collect data on self-managed abortions" — defined by the pro-abortion organization as "abortions that are not provided by a US clinician."

In addition, Guttmacher's "Monthly Abortion Provision Study includes medication abortions that are prescribed via telemedicine by a doctor licensed in the United States and mailed to a patient in a state where abortion is legal. However, estimates do not currently include medication abortions provided under the protection of shield laws to a patient in a state where abortion is completely banned," Guttmacher wrote (emphasis added).

From Roe to today: nearly 65 million lives ended by abortion

Last month, Guttmacher released preliminary, estimated abortion data for the first six months of 2025, allegedly "showing that an estimated 518,940 clinician-provided abortions occurred in the first six months of 2025 in states without total abortion bans."

However, Live Action News warned that the numbers — which indicated a 5% decline from the same timeframe in 2024 — should not be used to interpret any sort of decline in the number of abortions in the United States, in part because abortion pills — which are not fully tracked by Guttmacher — are still being mailed illegally into states with strict pro-life protections in place.

It is clear from Guttmacher's latest update to its 2023 and 2024 numbers that the group's early estimates are likely to change.

Using Guttmacher's updated numbers plus its half-year estimate, we estimate that from 1973 to June of 2025, nearly 65 million preborn children have lost their lives to abortion — and likely many more deaths weren't counted.

The Big Picture:

Guttmacher's 2025 report recapped what it referred to as a "floodgate" of change in 2025 under a second Trump Administration.

"This administration completely threw out the playbook that previous anti-abortion administrations had been using. They have sideswiped our issues," claimed Joerg Dreweke, Guttmacher's Director of US Communication. "Having agency heads who are not just hostile to our issues across the board, but also not bound by norms or even the law in many cases, is an unprecedented situation."

It is unclear what Dreweke means by this claim; for decades, pro-abortion appointments who infiltrated government at the highest levels have opposed pro-life change, keeping abortion legal.

Guttmacher's list of changes were as follows:

January The Trump administration comes into office, releasing a flurry of executive orders targeting sexual and reproductive health and rights. The “global gag rule” is quickly reinstated, cutting off US funding to international NGOs if they provide abortion services, information, counseling or referrals. Anti-abortion activists who had harassed and intimidated patients and providers are pardoned.

February The Trump administration starts to fully dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), severely threatening foreign assistance for international family planning and reproductive health care.

March The US Department of Justice dismisses a lawsuit brought by the Biden administration to ensure that pregnant people in Idaho could receive abortion care guaranteed under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

April The administration freezes close to $35 million in Title X funding to 16 organizations. Title X is the only federal program dedicated to providing low- and no-cost birth control and other reproductive health care.

May A budget reconciliation bill passes that includes provisions to “defund” Planned Parenthood, gut health coverage under Medicaid, and undermine access to abortion and gender affirming care.

June The US Supreme Court decides Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, clearing the way for states to block Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

July President Trump signs the budget reconciliation bill into law.

August The Trump administration proposes a new rule to ban veterans and their family members from accessing abortion care and counseling through the Veterans Health Administration.

September The administration decides to destroy $9.7 million worth of contraceptives that could have prevented unsafe abortions and maternal deaths among women in low-and middle income countries.

It is currently unclear whether the Trump administration ever actually destroyed those contraceptives, which were apparently slated to be sent to Africa.