What pro-lifers can take away from Guttmacher’s 2024 abortion data

April 22, 2025

A scholar is advising pro-life advocates to take the Guttmacher Institute’s recent claims of a slight increase in abortion since 2024, “with a grain of salt”

The Christian Post reports that pro-life researcher Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of social research at the Catholic University of America, has broken down the numbers and reports that there are insights to be gleaned.

Earlier this month, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute released its estimates for the number of abortions performed in 2024, claiming that 1,038,100 abortions were performed that year.

That number represents a increase of less than 1% in the total number of abortions performed in 2023.

In an op-ed for The National Review, New contends that the data published in the Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision survey may not be as accurate as the institute’s previous estimates.

New says that the research shows how policy decisions at the state level can affect abortion rates.

For instance, Wisconsin saw an increase in abortion numbers from 1,300 in 2023 to 6,100 in 2024, possibly due to a Circuit Court judge’s ruling that the state’s law only prohibited someone from attacking a pregnant woman rather than outlawing abortion itself.

Based on that ruling, Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin resumed offering abortions and the expanded access caused numbers to “skyrocket.”

New warned that the report’s numbers indicate that abortions via online clinics in states without total bans rose from 10% in 2023 to 14% in 2024.

He told the Christian Post, “As such, pro-lifers need to step up their efforts to get Food and Drug Administration officials to restore limits on chemical abortion drugs.”

New also noted that the number of women who crossed state lines for an abortion, decreased by over 8% in 2024.

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