How many abortions by state were there in the usa for 2024?
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Executive summary
Multiple, reputable research projects produced different 2024 totals because they measure slightly different things: Guttmacher’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study estimates roughly 1.04 million clinician‑provided abortions in U.S. states without total bans in 2024 (reported as 1,038,100 in the April release and ~1.048 million in other Guttmacher outputs), while the Society for Family Planning’s #WeCount effort produced a larger all‑system estimate near 1.14 million; differences reflect methodology, inclusion of telehealth/shield‑law provision, and how states with bans are counted [1] [2] [3] [4]. Precise, single‑source state‑by‑state totals for 2024 exist within those datasets but are reported differently across organizations and are shaped by modeling choices, cross‑state care, and telehealth reporting nuances [1] [5].
1. What the headline numbers mean: competing national totals and why they differ
The Guttmacher Institute’s reporting on full‑year 2024 shows about 1,038,100 clinician‑provided abortions occurring in U.S. states without total abortion bans, a figure generated from monthly provider sampling plus historical caseload modeling [1]; elsewhere Guttmacher materials cite a similar rounded total of about 1,048,700 for states without total bans, reflecting slight revisions and appendix table differences [2]. By contrast, the Society for Family Planning’s #WeCount aggregation — which explicitly incorporates monthly facility reports, telehealth tallies and shield‑law provision — estimated roughly 1.14 million abortions in 2024, a larger tally that captures telehealth and shield‑law flows more fully [3] [4]. Those differences are not an error but a reflection of scope: “clinician‑provided in states without total bans” versus broader programmatic counts that attempt to capture telehealth, cross‑border prescriptions and shield‑law arrangements [1] [3] [4].
2. State counts exist, but are embedded in each study’s data and modeling choices
Guttmacher’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study provides state and monthly estimates and notes state totals are assigned to the state where a procedure occurred or where pills were dispensed; the institute warns that as new monthly data arrive, prior estimates are revised because of the underlying statistical model and provider sampling [1]. The Society for Family Planning’s #WeCount supplies state‑by‑month submissions from participating providers and explicitly reports telehealth and “shield law” provision by state, so its state totals can be higher where out‑of‑state demand or telehealth flows are concentrated [4] [5]. Therefore, authoritative state‑by‑state numbers for 2024 do exist within these projects but must be read in light of each project's inclusion rules [1] [4].
3. Key state‑level shifts illustrate why a single map can be misleading
Guttmacher highlights large state‑level volatility even as aggregate volumes in permissive states held steady: for example, Colorado and New Mexico each saw declines of roughly 2,300 and 2,600 abortions respectively between 2023 and 2024 even though totals in those states remain far above their pre‑Roe baselines [2]. Florida experienced an estimated drop of roughly 12,100 abortions in 2024 after implementing a six‑week ban, while Wisconsin’s reported clinician‑provided abortions rose from about 1,300 in 2023 to about 6,100 in 2024 — illustrating massive local change even as national aggregates look stable [6]. Cross‑state travel for care also mattered: about 155,000 people traveled across state lines for abortion in 2024, roughly 15% of abortions provided in states without total bans, shifting volumes away from restrictive states and into protective ones [7].
4. What can and cannot be asserted from the available reporting
It can be firmly stated that estimates cluster in the roughly one‑million to 1.14‑million range for 2024 depending on source and definition: Guttmacher’s clinician‑provided, in‑state dispensing estimate ~1.04 million while #WeCount’s broader capture gives ~1.14 million [1] [3]. What cannot be definitively provided from the excerpts here is a single, universally agreed‑upon list of exact abortion counts for each of the 50 states and D.C. that reconciles every modeling choice; those granular state tables are present in the full datasets and appendices of Guttmacher and #WeCount but are not fully reproduced in the supplied snippets [1] [4] [5]. Policymakers, journalists and researchers should therefore cite which dataset and definition they use when reporting “by‑state” 2024 figures [1] [3].