Abortion Reporting: Alaska (2024)

Alaska released its 2024 abortion statistics in March 2025. The report shows that the total number of abortions increased by two from 2023. As of April 25, 2025, three states had released 2024 abortion reports, with two showing slight increases in abortion totals from the previous year. The data published by the state does not include the total number of abortions obtained by Alaska residents out of state or the number of self-managed abortions on women outside of the healthcare system. It is also unlikely that the report contains the total number of mail-order abortion drugs obtained by Alaska residents prescribed by licensed abortion providers in other states. In a separate section, Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) will describe data provided by the Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study that details the total number of abortions occurring in the state in 2023 and 2024 as estimated by Guttmacher’s sample survey and mathematical models. CLI will also describe Guttmacher’s estimated number of abortions obtained by Alaska women in other states. Guttmacher’s abortion estimates include the number of abortions obtained at brick-and-mortar facilities and those provided via telehealth and virtual providers in the United States.

Alaska’s statute code defines abortion as:

[T]he use or prescription of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, except that ‘abortion’ does not include the termination of a pregnancy if done with the intent to: (A) save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child; (B) deliver the unborn child prematurely to preserve the health of both the pregnant woman and the woman’s child; or (C) remove a dead unborn child. (§18.16.090)

Abortion is permitted throughout all nine months of pregnancy in Alaska (§18.16.010).

Statistics and Changes in Alaska Abortions, 2023-2024

The report does not include information on Planned Parenthood’s abortion market share.

Abortion Totals and Trends

There were 1,224 abortions reported in Alaska in 2024, up two abortions from 2023. Use of abortion drugs increased by 7%, making up 60% of the total in 2024 (Fig. 1). CLI estimates that Alaska’s 2024 abortion rate was 8.5 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, the same as it was in 2023 (Fig. 2).¹

State Report Summary

Alaska’s report cautions that “reported data may include terminations that were medically necessary to save the mother’s life or were not elective (such as ectopic or molar pregnancies) or where medication was provided to manage a miscarriage,” even though the Alaska Vital Statistics Act’s definition of “induced termination of pregnancy” excludes miscarriage management and ectopic pregnancies.

The vast majority of Alaska abortions (98%) were performed on state residents. Nineteen abortions were performed on women from other states, while the state of residence was not reported for one abortion. Two abortions were performed on women from foreign countries. Over half the abortions were obtained by women in their twenties, with 30% on women ages 20 to 24 and 25% on women ages 25 to 29. Twenty-eight percent of Alaska abortions were performed on women in their thirties. Thirteen percent of the abortions were performed on girls ages 19 or younger, and 3% were obtained by women ages 40 or older.

Forty-two percent of Alaska abortions were obtained by white women. Twenty-nine percent were performed on American Indian/Alaska Native women, 9% on Asian/Pacific Islander women, and 7% on black women. Eight percent of the abortions were obtained by women of multiple or other races, while race was not reported for 6% of the abortions. CLI estimates that the black abortion rate in Alaska was 15.1 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, almost three times the white abortion rate of 5.8. The American Indian/Alaska Native abortion rate of 14.9 was also almost three times the white abortion rate. Eighty-eight percent of the abortions were performed on non-Hispanic women and 10% were on Hispanic women. Ethnicity was not reported for 2%.

Most Alaska abortions were performed on women with 12 or more years of education: 50% were performed on women with 12 years of education, and 33% on women with 13 years or more. Twelve percent of the abortions were obtained by women with fewer than 12 years of education, and 5% by women for whom level of education was not reported.

Sixteen percent of Alaska abortions were performed on married women, and 82% on unmarried women. Marital status was not reported for 2% of Alaska’s abortions. Fifty-one percent of the abortions were obtained by women who had no previous live births, compared to 17% obtained by those with one prior live birth and 32% by women with more than one. Seventy-two percent of the abortions were performed on women with no prior abortions. Seventeen percent were performed on women with one previous abortion, and 11% on women with two or more prior abortions.

Forty-three percent of Alaska abortions were funded by state Medicaid. Nine percent were covered by private insurance, and 29% were self-pay. Sixteen percent of the abortions were funded through some other means, and the funding source was unknown for 2% of the state’s abortions.

In 2024, there were nine abortions performed because of a prenatally diagnosed congenital anomaly, while zero such cases were reported in 2023. Fifteen percent of the women undergoing abortion received Alaska’s informed consent materials, which are offered as optional.

Thirty-eight percent of the abortions reported in Alaska occurred at six weeks of gestation or earlier. Forty percent were performed between seven and nine weeks, and 15% occurred between 10 and 13 weeks of gestation. Three percent of Alaska abortions were performed between 14 and 15 weeks, and 3% occurred from 16 to 17 weeks. There was one abortion performed between 18 and 20 weeks but none reported at 21 weeks of gestation or later.

Sixty percent of reported Alaska abortions were drug-induced: 59% utilized mifepristone and 1% utilized misoprostol alone. The increase in drug-induced abortions coincided with a decrease in suction curettage abortions. Twenty percent of reported Alaska abortions were performed using suction curettage. Nineteen percent of Alaska abortions were dilation and evacuation procedures. There was one abortion performed using some other means, and the method for 12 abortions was unknown.

Breakdown of Abortion Providers in Alaska²

Guttmacher 2023 and 2024³

Guttmacher estimated that 1,650 abortions occurred in Alaska in 2023 and 1,630 in 2024. Also in 2023, an estimated 110 Alaska residents traveled to Washington state to obtain an abortion. The Alaska abortion totals estimated by Guttmacher for 2023 and 2024 were 35% and 33% higher than the totals reported by the state, respectively.

State Ranking

In 2024, CLI published a paper reevaluating abortion reporting across the country, with Alaska ranked as being tied for 17^th place. To improve its reporting, Alaska could require healthcare providers to report abortion-related complications they treat. Alaska could also report the number of infants born alive occurring in the state and the number of drug-induced abortions that occurred in abortion centers versus the number of women who received abortion drugs via the mail.

1. National rates were calculated by the Guttmacher Institute. Alaska rates were calculated by CLI using the following formula: (total number of abortions performed in Alaska ÷ number of resident women ages 15-44 [based on most recent population estimates]) x 1,000. Rates may differ slightly from previous CLI articles due to revised population estimates. Population estimates were obtained from the CDC WONDER database. Estimates for 2005-2009 are intercensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2010-2019 are Vintage 2020 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2020-2023 are Vintage 2023 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. Rates for 2024 were calculated using the Vintage 2023 postcensal estimates because 2024 population estimates have not yet been released by the CDC.
2. Provider totals do not include hospitals or physician offices not listed in databases that compile abortion provider locations in different states but do include Planned Parenthood locations, independent abortion centers, and hospitals/doctor’s offices included in databases like Abortion Finder and Ineedana. The information contained within such databases and as listed in the table noted that the latest gestational age a provider will perform a surgical abortion in the state is through 17 weeks, but the state reported an abortion being performed between 18 and 20 weeks. The abortion performed between 18 and 20 weeks could have been performed at a hospital, as abortions performed at later gestational ages often are, or the provider could not have been in the databases. This information is updated as of April 24, 2025.
3. The Guttmacher Institute notes that their monthly abortion totals by state are estimates and that each state’s estimate is within a range of uncertainty. Guttmacher also notes that their estimates do not reflect abortions obtained by women in pro-life states under shield laws in effect in pro-abortion states. This information is updated as of April 24, 2025.

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