(Washington Examiner) Fewer unintended pregnancies helped drive the abortion rate to a new low in 2017, according to a report published Wednesday by the Guttmatcher Institute.
The rate of abortions dropped to 13.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 2017, which translates to 862,320 abortions performed that year. The number is 7% lower than it was in 2014, and the lowest since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide.
The study comes at a time when states are moving in different directions on abortion rights as they anticipate the Supreme Court, which has two new additions under President Trump, may reconsider its Roe decision. Blue states have enshrined abortion rights and loosened restrictions on abortions later in a pregnancy. Red states have passed six-week "heartbeat" bans on abortion that do not provide exemptions for rape or incest, which have been blocked and challenged in court.