CDC Report Reveals 619,591 Abortions Occurred in 2017

Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shares the latest abortion numbers with the country. Though this new report shows that the number of abortions continues to decrease, the numbers are still alarming.

According to the CDC Abortion Surveillance Report 2017, there were 619,591 abortions that year, which reflects the most recent information available. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Vermont. The report does not include the number of abortions that occurred in California, the nation’s most populous state, Maryland and New Hampshire as submitting data is entirely voluntary.

The Guttmacher Institute, which is a pro-abortion research organization that has incredibly close ties with Planned Parenthood, argues that there were 862,320 abortions in 2017. Their report includes numbers from California (132,680), Maryland (29,800) and New Hampshire (2,210). The total is roughly equal to the entire population of South Dakota.

Digging deeper in the report, New York City and the District of Columbia have the highest rate of abortion, at 26.8 and 25.3 per 1,000 women respectively. The rate for the whole country is currently 11.3, a slight increase from the 11.2 in 2016.

The most startling revelation in the report is the growing use of the abortion pill. According to the CDC, which cites the use of the abortion pill or chemical abortions as “medical abortions,” there was a 48% increase in the number of women using this method in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The number of women using the abortion pill after nine weeks decreased by 56%.

In comparison, surgical abortions in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy decreased by 7% in the same time frame. After 13 weeks, the number of women using surgical abortion decreased by 5%.

The state of Massachusetts failed to track the gestational age of any of the preborn babies aborted in the state, which raises serious questions about whether the state’s abortionists are putting women’s health at risk by not properly determining the preborn baby’s age before the procedure. The later a woman is in her pregnancy, the more likely she is to experience abortion complications.

This lack of specificity is a reflection on how politics has resulted in an industry that is not held accountable to meet the most basic of reporting standards.

The report, as it does every year, reveals the staggering loss of hundreds of thousands of baby boys and girls, and the number of women and men who have been physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually damaged by an abortion decision.

It also far exceeds the number of COVID deaths, which currently stands at about 268,626.

Yet, the country remains transfixed on the pandemic. Though it is understandable that many Americans are frustrated by the loss of family members and friends due to the coronavirus, where’s the outrage when it comes to preborn babies?

Every death should be a cause for mourning. Whether that is a life well-lived, or a life that hasn’t even been given the chance to begin.

A decrease in the number of abortions is encouraging, but the country still has a long way to go.

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