One of the most common claims made by abortion activists, and reported by many news organizations, is that abortion in later term pregnancies are exceedingly rare. Abortion activists say this to deflect the conversation away from the reality that many abortions actually do take place later in pregnancy, which is something the vast majority of people strongly disapprove of.

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The most complete statistics on abortion in the US come from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that strongly favors abortion rights. According to their research, they reported that in 2013 approximately 88% of abortions were done between 1-12 weeks

of pregnancy, 10.4% were done between 13 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, and 1.3% were done 21 weeks or later in pregnancy.

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With an estimated 1,037,000 abortions performed in 2023, and using the percentages from the 2018 Guttmacher report, which is the latest and most comprehensive report available, this represents that likely 107,849 abortions were performed in 2023 in the second-trimester (13 to 20 weeks), and 13,481 abortions performed roughly in the final third-trimester (21 weeks or later) of pregnancy. Think about that, a combined total of 121,329 abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. How can anyone claim this is something that is “rare?"

 

Most people believe that abortions are not allowed after viability (the point when a fetus is able to live outside the womb), which is roughly around 22 to 24 weeks gestational age, and this is understandable since even “Roe” said that abortions could be restricted after viability, except for the life or health of the mother, and therein lies an unknown truth.

 

In the seldom talked about Supreme Court “Doe vs. Bolton” abortion decision, that was handed down the same day as “Roe vs Wade” in January, 1973, the “Doe” decision defined “health” on page 192 to include all factors – “physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the women’s age.” As Cornell Law School noted, “This basically allows a woman to have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy and for any reason,” and this is something that had been in practice since 1973.

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Even though the June 2022 Supreme Court’s  “Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization" (2022) decision has allowed states to now restrict these later term abortions, 22 states have voted to keep "Roe" legal by either “codifying” Roe into state law, or changing their state constitutions to allow abortion without any written restrictions whatsoever.

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Abortion activists are quick to also tell you that all later term abortions are only done for extreme and serious health reasons to benefit the mother, or for fetal anomalies, but this claim is far from the truth as well. The Guttmacher Institute also published a report in 2013 titled “Who Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks?” that answered this question. Their report summary stated: “Most women seeking later abortion (20 weeks or later) fit at least one of five profiles: They were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in a conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous.”

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What was completely absent from their report was any mention of medical necessity or serious health reasons as why these women were getting abortions at 20 weeks or later. That is not to say such situations could not, or do not happen, but the point here is that "medical necessity" or "serious" health reasons were not even listed as a meaningful factor.  

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Congressional testimony, interviews, and articles and statements from a number of former abortionists who used to perform later term abortions, have admitted that up to 80% of the abortions they did were not for the life of the mother, or other serious health reasons for either the mother or her fetus. Many of these former abortionists acknowledged that they originally thought they were providing a service to these women, but have since come to realize that they were not. Many now have deep regret that the “service” that they provided in fact resulted in the “termination” of the lives of tens-of-thousands of otherwise heathly, living fetuses.

 

Abortion “clinics” typically charge between $700 to $3,000 for a second-trimester abortion, depending on the age of the fetus. Third-trimester abortions start around $3000 and have been known to go up to $30,000 for those “very late-term” abortions, so the ability for abortionists to make a substantial amount of money is clearly evident.

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We estimate, conservatively, that the “abortion industry” in the US profited approximately $858 million in 2023. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the largest single provider of abortion in the country, reported performing 392,715 abortions in their latest 2023 – 24 annual report. That represents almost 38% of all abortions nationally, earning them an estimated $325 million from simply performing abortions. 

 

Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with a doctor or hospital making a profit from providing needed care, but when the abortion industry, and those organizations that promote abortion “rights,” blatantly mislead the public into thinking that there aren’t that many later term abortions being done, when in fact there are, or when they claim that later term abortions are done only for serious medical health reasons, when they are not, it makes you question why they do this?

  

Perhaps a good “rule” to follow is that when an individual or organization speaks out about anything that they themselves have a conflict-of-interest or a financially-vested interest in, we should be quick to question their motives, if not totally disqualify them from the conversation altogether, but the media doesn’t seem to do this when someone is speaking out in support of “abortion rights.” We know “abortion rights” is a very popular “cause” right now, but we wonder how many of those on the abortion-rights bandwagon really know the facts? The media should do their homework and keep us better informed. 

  

The financial aspect of abortion is something that those who profit from abortion would rather wish you didn’t think about, but that truly is what it is, an industry that greatly profits financially from the practice of abortion. As that popular saying goes….when they say “it’s not about the money,” it’s (really) about the money.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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