Guttmacher data show US abortion rate is falling, but the fight is far from over

A report from the Guttmacher Institute released earlier this week contains very good news. Guttmacher, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, published abortion estimates for 2025 thus far, and the report indicates that the number of abortions fell by 5 percent in the first half of 2025 when compared with the same period in 2024.

Guttmacher analysts indicate that Florida’s Heartbeat Act, which took effect May 1, 2024, is playing a large role in this decline,” Dr. Michael New, a pro-life statistician at the Catholic University of America, told LifeSiteNews by email. “The Heartbeat Act is protecting preborn children in Florida and is preventing women from other states from obtaining abortions in the Sunshine State. Birth data from Florida shows that the Heartbeat Act is saving nearly 300 lives every month.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is one of the most effective pro-life leaders in the country. In 2022, he signed a 15-week abortion ban; only two years later, he signed the Heartbeat Act, restricting abortion to six weeks. Last year, DeSantis also broke the abortion movement’s winning streak by defeating Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion into Florida’s state constitution, despite the abortion campaign’s $110 million war chest. In a traditionally pro-abortion state, DeSantis’ leadership has led to increasingly pro-life policy.

“The Heartbeat Act is doubtless stopping many abortions in Florida – a high-population state that previously had an above-average abortion rate,” New wrote at National Review Online. “Furthermore, because of the Heartbeat Act, fewer women from other Southern states are obtaining abortions in Florida.”

New offers one cautionary proviso: “That said, pro-lifers should take these figures with a grain of salt,” he told LifeSiteNews. “It does not appear that Guttmacher is able to provide a comprehensive count of telehealth abortions. Furthermore, the Trump administration has the power to end telehealth abortions. Even though HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced the FDA would conduct a new review of abortion pills, pro-lifers would do well to continue to push for more timely action.”

After the overturn of Roe v. Wade and a series of referendum losses, there has been some good news for pro-lifers recently. In July, data revealed that Iowa’s “heartbeat act” was saving lives from abortion. More than 30 Planned Parenthood facilities have closed so far in 2025. A July poll showed a slight increase in pro-life sentiment in the United States, despite a relentless barrage of pro-abortion propaganda in the media, including among young adults. A study in early 2025 showed that pro-life laws are, in fact, saving thousands of lives.

There is bad news, as well. According to Students for Life of America: “On the same day that Trump Administration Officials received yet another request to discuss the review of Chemical Abortion Pills, it is  reported that a generic version of the first of the two abortion-causing drugs, Mifepristone, has been approved.” With 60 percent of abortions in America now being perpetrated by pill, any increased availability in abortion drugs is guaranteed to have a deadly effect.

“Stopping telehealth abortions remains an important priority for pro-lifers,” New said. “Before 2020, women obtaining chemical abortions had to obtain an in-person medical exam. However, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA allowed women to obtain chemical abortions via telehealth. The Biden administration continued this unwise policy after the conclusion of the pandemic. Currently, the Trump administration has the power to restore the old safeguards and stop telehealth abortions.”