How many abortions occur each year in the United States, and in California?
It depends on whose data one finds.
The federal Abortion Surveillance Report for 2011, prepared by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) says 730,322 abortions occurred in 2011.
Guttmacher Institute says the annual total is 1.1 million abortions.
Why the difference?
The CDC shows no abortions in California.
But each year 180,000 babies are killed by abortion in California, according to Guttmacher data, an average of 500 each day.
The CDC merely adds up the numbers reported to it by states. And several high abortion-rate states don’t report abortions, including California. It has not reported abortion data for the national report since the 1990s, according to the Lozier Institute, a pro-life research organization.
Guttmacher collects its data by directly contacting abortion centers and doctors.
According to Guttmacher’s data, almost one of every four pregnancies in California ends in abortion.
California has about 500 abortion providers (hospital, clinic or doctor’s office).
In California one can find state government data on the 160 babies who die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
But if a person searches California’s state government data they will not find any data on the number of abortions committed in the state.