Have abortions declined sharply in the US over the last two decades?

The number of abortions performed in the U.S. has sharply declined since 1998. In 2016, 623,471 were reported to the Centers for Disease Control, down by about half from the levels prevailing through the 80s and the early and mid-90s. (Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit, compiles estimates based on its own surveys, yielding higher totals but similar trends.)

The number of legal abortions more than doubled after the procedure was declared legal in all 50 states by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade in 1973. In 1972, 586,760 legal abortions were reported to the CDC. By 1980, 1.3 million legal abortions were reported.

Another measure, the ratio of abortions to live births, has also declined. In 1973, there were 19.6 abortions per 100 births; the ratio rose to the mid-30s by 1980 and remained there until the late 1990s. In 2016, there were 18.6, lower than in the year Roe v. Wade was decided.