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Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. (AP)
Jeanine Pirro wrongly says there are 63 million abortions per year in the U.S.
If Your Time is short
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the 2019 figure at around 629,898. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research group, estimated there were 862,320 abortions in 2017.
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The number of abortions have been steadily declining over the last decade.
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A Fox News spokesperson told PolitiFact that Pirro was referencing a report by the National Right to Life Committee that estimates 63 million abortions have been performed since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
Abortion rates and the number of overall abortion procedures have been declining in the U.S. over the last decade, data show.
But if you were watching a May 3 segment of Fox News’ The Five, you might have walked away with a much different impression as Judge Jeanine Pirro dramatically overstated how many abortions are performed each year. "And my stats that I have," she said, "are that there are 63 million abortions a year in this country. Those are the stats that I heard. That’s a little too much!"
Indeed, in a nation where the U.S. Census shows the population of women considered to be of estimated child-bearing age (15 to 44) is about 64.5 million, that would be rather surprising.
The actual estimated number of abortions performed in the U.S. each year is much lower than what Pirro claimed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 629,898 abortions occurred in 2019. The CDC collects data from state health departments that volunteer the information. This 2019 total does not include data from California, Maryland or New Hampshire.
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Approximately 862,320 abortions were reported in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that promotes reproductive health and abortion access. Guttmacher’s 2017 report is the organization’s most recent analysis of abortion data collected from health care facilities that perform the operation.
The number of abortions performed each year has been steadily declining over the last decade, according to the Guttmacher Institute. From 2011 to 2014, the number of abortions conducted dropped by 6%. From 2014 to 2017, the number of abortions decreased another 7%.
When PolitiFact reached out to Fox News for comment, a spokesperson said Pirro was referencing a Fox News article that reported 63 million abortions have occurred in the U.S. since the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide. That’s a significant distinction Pirro did not make on the show; she said there were 63 million abortions "a year."
The Fox News article cited an analysis by the National Right to Life Committee as the source for the 63 million estimated abortions over the last 49 years. The NRLC says it made this estimation based on data from the Guttmacher Institute and the CDC.
The Guttmacher Institute told PolitiFact that it has not compiled the total number of legal abortions performed since 1973, but it has estimated the pregnancy, birth and abortion rates for women aged 15-44 from 1973 to 2017.
Featured Fact-check
Our ruling
On a May 2 Fox News segment, Pirro said, "there are 63 million abortions a year in this country."
This claim vastly overstates the number of abortions conducted in the U.S. each year. The Guttmacher Institute reported there were roughly 862,320 abortions in 2017. CDC puts the 2019 figure at around 629,898.
Pirro appears to have inaccurately referenced an estimation made by the NRLC that 63 million abortions have been performed since the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down in 1973.
We rate this claim False.
RELATED: Fact-checking 5 claims in the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on Roe v. Wade
RELATED: What would state laws look like in a post-Roe world?
Our Sources
Twitter post, May 3, 2022
Guttmacher Institute, "Induced Abortion in the United States," September 2019
Guttmacher Institute, "Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2017," September 2019
Guttmacher Institute, "Pregnancies, Births and Abortions in the United States, 1973–2017: National and State Trends by Age," March 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2019," Nov. 26, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "User Guide to the 2020 Natality Public Use File," accessed May 4, 2022
The National Right to Life Committee, "The State of Abortion in the United States," Jan. 31, 2022
Fox News, "Over 63 million abortions have occurred in the US since Roe v. Wade decision in 1973," Jan. 22, 2021
Phone interview, Jessica Ketner, Fox News spokesperson, May 4, 2022
Email interview, Isabel Guarnieri, Guttmacher Institute spokesperson, May 4, 2022
PolitiFact, "Fact-checking 5 claims in the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on Roe v. Wade," May 3, 2022
PolitiFact, "What would state laws look like in a post-Roe world?," May 3, 2022
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Jeanine Pirro wrongly says there are 63 million abortions per year in the U.S.
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