The Illinois Department of Public Health published its 2022 abortion statistics online in January 2023.
Statistics and Changes in Illinois Abortions, 2021-2022
The report does not include information on Planned Parenthood’s Illinois abortion market share.
Abortion Totals and Trends
Abortions in Illinois increased in 2022 by 9% from 2021, with a total of 56,457 in 2022 and 51,797 in 2021. Drug-induced abortions also jumped by 17%, and constituted 57% of the 2022 total (Fig. 1). Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) estimates that Illinois’ 2022 abortion rate was 22.8 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 (Fig. 2)1. As of February 2024, 34 states have released 2022 abortion statistics, with 21 reporting increases from 2021.
State Report Summary
Sixty-nine percent of Illinois abortions were performed on state residents in 2022, while 30% were on women from other states. The number of abortions obtained by out-of-state women increased by 49%. This dramatic increase was most likely the result of Illinois being a midwestern state with no effective abortion limits due to the broad exceptions built into its abortion law, surrounded by states that enacted, at one point or another, pro-life laws that protect babies from conception after the Dobbs decision in June 2022.2 Residence was not reported for 1% of the abortions. As previously noted by CLI, Illinois no longer reports the states from which non-Illinois residents travel to obtain abortions due to a June 2023 change in the state’s abortion reporting announced by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Three percent of the abortions were performed on minors. Sixty-five percent were obtained by women ages 18-29, and 29% by women in their thirties. Three percent were performed on women in their forties or older. Age was not reported for 0.4% of the abortions. Multiple methods can be reported for each abortion, so the number of abortions reported for each type of procedure adds up to slightly more than the total number reported in Illinois. Over half the abortions occurring in Illinois in 2022 (57%) were drug-induced abortions. Surgical procedures were used for 42% of the abortions. However, the report did not document the specific types of surgical procedures that were used. An additional 2% of the abortions were performed using an unknown method.
Abortion by Gestational Age
Forty-nine percent of Illinois abortions occurred prior to eight weeks of gestation, 33% between eight and 11 weeks, and 9% between 12 and 15 weeks. Six percent of the abortions were performed at 16 weeks of gestation or later; Illinois did not report the precise gestational ages at which abortions occurred after 16 weeks. Gestational age was not reported for 3% of the abortions. From 2021 to 2022, the number of abortions that occurred at 16 weeks of gestation or later increased by 42%, by 33% between 12 and 15 weeks, and by 26% between 8 and 11 weeks, while the number of abortions at eight weeks or before decreased by 4%.
State Ranking
In 2016, CLI evaluated abortion reporting across the country and Illinois’ reporting tied for 13th best. Since then, the state’s abortion reporting has declined in quality, given the change the state made to its reporting laws in 2023. To improve its reporting, Illinois could incorporate all the information it reported in its annual abortion reports published before 2019 and provide data on complications related to abortion procedures.
- National rates were calculated by the Guttmacher Institute. Illinois rates were calculated by CLI using the following formula: (total number of abortions performed in Illinois ÷ 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 2020-2022 are Vintage 2022 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.
- The legal status of the life-at-conception laws in the states that directly border Illinois (Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Wisconsin) have changed off and on following the Dobbs decision in June 2022. But, by and large, these states had life-at-conception laws in effect post-Dobbs. As of January 2024, three of the four states listed above have life-at-conception laws in effect while Wisconsin limits abortion after 22 weeks of gestation.
- Illinois’ 2014 abortion report was the first to include the number of drug-induced abortions reported in the state. Previous reports did not report drug-induced abortions as a separate category. The 2018 drug-induced abortion total has been updated to include those performed on women of unknown residency; previous reports suppressed this number.
