District of Columbia Abortion Facts

State abortion stats by rate, rank, total, age, gestation, and procedure type.

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State abortion statistics are collected privately by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) and federally by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Because of reporting lag, the most recent data available is generally a few years old. It should be noted that four states (California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire) did not provide abortion data to the federal government for the last reporting period, and AGI (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) openly advocates abortion.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ABORTION, VISIT: Prenatal Development, Abortion Procedures or Abortion Pictures

IF YOU ARE PREGNANT AND NEED HELP, VISIT: OptionLine.org

CDC DATA (District of Columbia)

Total Abortions (2009): 2,596

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 2,596 abortions took place in the District of Columbia during 2009. The table below compares District of Columbia abortion totals by year.

2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
2,596	2,553	2,369	2,692	2,518	2,401	5,121	5,511

Total Abortions Rank (2009): #36

Out of the 46 states* (+ Washington DC) that reported to the CDC, the District of Columbia's 2008 abortion total places it at #36 on the list (#1 on the list is the state or district with the most abortions and #47 is the state or district with the fewest).
*California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire did not report data.

Abortion Rate* (2009): 17.2

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the 2009 abortion rate for the District of Columbia was 17.2. The 2009 abortion rate across the 46 reporting states** (+ Washington DC) was 15.1. The table below compares District of Columbia abortion rates by year.
*The abortion rate is the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years.
**California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire did not report data.

2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
17.2	17.2	16.0	18.4	17	18	36	39

Abortion Rate Rank (2009): #7

Out of the 46 states* (+ Washington DC) that reported to the CDC, the District of Columbia's 2008 abortion rate places it at #7 on the list (#1 on the list is the state or district with the highest abortion rate and #47 is the state or district with the lowest).
*California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire did not report data.

Out-of-State Abortion Percentage (2009): 51.8%

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 51.8% of the 2,553 abortions that took place in the District of Columbia were performed on out-of-state residents.

Percentage of Reported Abortions by Known Age (2009):

	<15 yrs	15-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	≥40 yrs
District of Columbia	0.6%	16.4%	31.8%	25.7%	14.7%	7.8%	3.1%
United States	0.5%	15.5%	32.7%	24.4%	14.7%	8.8%	3.3%

Percentage of Reported Abortions by Weeks of Gestation* (2009):

	≤8 wks*	9-13 wks*	14-15 wks*	16-17 wks*	18-20 wks*	≥21 wks*
District of Columbia	67.2%	18.8%	4.6%	6.1%	3.3%	0.0%
United States	64.0%	27.7%	3.4%	1.9%	1.8%	1.3%

*Gestational weeks are measured from the first day of the woman's last menstruation and not from the day of conception. Though it does not provide an accurate fetal age (which is roughly 2 weeks less than the gestational age), it is the simplest way for an OB/GYN to age a pregnancy since the day of conception is often not known. Hence, if an abortion occurs at 8 weeks gestation, it is actually aborting a 6 week embryo. The images on our Prenatal Development and Abortion Pictures pages are more precisely captioned with fetal ages in accordance with standard teaching texts on prenatal development.

Percentage of Reported Abortions by Procedure Type* (2008):

	Curettage	Medical	Intrauterine Instillation	Other
District of Columbia	71.5%	27.5%	0%	0.8%
United States	82.4%	16.2%	0%	1.6%

*To learn more about how various abortion procedures are performed, visit our Abortion Techniques page.

SOURCE: Abortion Surveillance --- United States, 2009

AGI DATA (District of Columbia)

Total Abortions (2008): 4,450

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) reports that 4,450 abortions took place in the District of Columbia during 2008. In 2005, there were 7,230 abortions reported.

**Total Abortions Rank (2008): #37**

Out of the 50 states (+ Washington DC) that AGI lists data for, the District of Columbia's 2008 abortion total places it at number 37 on the list (#1 on the list is the state or district with the most abortions and #51 is the state or district with the fewest).

**Abortion Rate* (2008): 29.9**

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) reports that the 2008 abortion rate for the District of Columbia was 29.9. In 2005, the abortion rate in the District of Columbia was 54.2. It was 68.1 in 2000. The 2008 abortion rate across the entire United States was 19.6.
*The abortion rate is the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years.

**Abortion Rate Rank (2008):** #4

Out of the 50 states (+ Washington DC) that AGI lists data for, the District of Columbia's 2008 abortion rate places it at number 4 on the list (#1 on the list is the state or district with the highest abortion rate and #51 is the state or district with the lowest).

Percentage of Pregnancies Ending in Abortion (2008): 28%

In 2008, 15,900 women in the District of Columbia became pregnant. 58% of these pregnancies resulted in live births and 28% in induced abortions

Total Abortion Facilities (2008): 8

In 2008, the Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that there were 8 abortion providers in the District of Columbia. There were 12 providers in 2005 and 15 providers in 2000.

Abortion Restrictions (2011):

The District of Columbia does not have any of the major types of abortion restrictions—such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement or limitations on publicly funded abortions—often found in other states.

SOURCE: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/district_of_columbia.html

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