Abortion Reporting: Washington (2022)

The State of Washington released its 2022 resident abortion total (19,411) on its Pregnancy and Abortion Dashboard. However, Washington provided some more detailed abortion data to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which it included in its 2022 abortion surveillance report. The data published by the CDC does not include the total number of abortions obtained by Washington 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 number of mail-order abortion drugs obtained by Washington residents prescribed by licensed abortion providers in other states. In a separate section, CLI will describe data provided by the Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study that details the number of women who traveled to Washington to obtain abortions and their states of residence, as well as the number of abortions obtained by Washington 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.

Statistics and Changes in Washington Abortions, 2021-2022

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

Abortion Totals and Trends

While the state has released abortion statistics online, they are very limited. Therefore, this summary includes data shared with the CDC by the Washington State Department of Health. According to the CDC, 20,193 abortions were performed in Washington in 2022, an increase of 24% from 2021. Drug-induced abortions increased by 30%, from 9,655 in 2021 to 12,577 in 2022 (Fig. 1). The CDC estimated that Washington’s 2022 abortion rate was 12.9 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, an increase of 22% from 2021 (Fig. 2).¹

CDC State Data Summary

In 2022, 93% of the abortions reported in Washington were performed on state residents. An additional 7% were performed on women from out of state or of unknown residency, including 67 abortions on Alaska residents, 571 on Idaho residents, 430 on Oregon residents, and 113 on Texas residents. The number of abortions obtained by out of state residents increased by 46% from 2021 when no Texas residents were reported to have obtained abortions in the state and every other group of nonresidents obtained fewer abortions in Washington. The increase in the number of Idaho and Texas women who obtained abortions in Washington most likely occurred because both states prohibit abortion whereas Washington has no effective gestational limits. Its viability law has such broad health exceptions, it is rendered ineffective at limiting abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason.

CDC data on abortions by area of residence and occurrence showed that in 2022, 724 Washington women traveled out of state to obtain abortions. Six hundred and seventy-seven Washington women traveled to Oregon to obtain abortions while the breakdown of other states was suppressed because the number of abortions per state was less than 50.

Ten percent of the abortions reported in Washington were performed on girls ages 19 or younger, including 0.2% on girls under the age of 15. Over half of the abortions, 54%, were performed on women in their twenties, with 28% on women ages 20 to 24 and 26% on women ages 25 to 29. Thirty-two percent of the abortions were performed on women in their thirties, and 4% on women ages 40 or older. Age was not reported for 11 abortions.

Fifty percent of the abortions were obtained by women with no previous live births, 20% by women with one prior live birth, and 29% by women with two or more. Sixty-one percent of the abortions were performed on women with no prior abortions, while 23% were performed on women with one prior abortion and 16% on women with more than one. The number of both previous live births and previous abortions was not reported for 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively, of 2022 Washington abortions.

In 2022, 46% of the abortions reported in Washington occurred at six weeks of gestation or earlier. Thirty-six percent were performed between seven and nine weeks, and 10% occurred between 10 and 13 weeks. Two percent of the abortions were performed from 14 to 15 weeks, and 1% were reported between 16 and 17 weeks of gestation. Two percent were performed between 18 and 20 weeks. There were 525 abortions, 3% of the total, reported at 21 weeks of gestation or later, the third highest total in the country in 2022 behind New York City (1,054) and Florida (549). The number of abortions at every gestational age incremently increased from 2021 to 2022. The specific numerical increases include:

Sixty-two percent of Washington abortions were drug-induced, with drug-induced abortions at or before nine weeks of gestation making up the vast majority. Thirty-six percent were surgical procedures. The number of intrauterine instillation abortions was suppressed and there were zero hysterectomy/hysterotomy abortions. Two percent of abortions were performed using unknown methods.

2023 Guttmacher Data²

In 2023, Guttmacher estimated that 24,130 abortions occurred in Washington. Guttmacher also estimated that 1,370 abortions were obtained by women who traveled to Washington to get an abortion in 2023. The 1,370 abortions are included within Guttmacher’s total estimate of 24,130 abortions occurring in the state. To see the number of abortions obtained in Washington by women from various states, see the following table:

Lastly, Guttmacher estimated that 850 abortions were obtained by Washington residents who traveled out of state to obtain their abortions. Seven hundred and ten abortions were obtained by Washington women in Oregon and 140 in Hawaii.

Breakdown of Abortion Providers in Washington³

State Ranking

In 2024, CLI published a paper reevaluating abortion reporting across the country, with Washington tied for 43^rd place. To improve its reporting, Washington could publish its data in a timelier manner. Since the state is seeing an increase in drug-induced abortions, which have a higher complication rate than surgical abortions, Washington could pay particular attention to its complications data and require reporting from emergency rooms and doctors’ offices that encounter abortion complications. Washington could also release full reports with all of the data it provides to the CDC on its Pregnancy and Abortion Dashboard when it releases total counts and age data.

1. National rates were calculated by the Guttmacher Institute. Washington rates were calculated by CLI using the following formula: (total number of abortions performed in Washington ÷ 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.
2. The Guttmacher Institute notes that their monthly abortion totals by states 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 January 8, 2025.
3. 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. This information is updated as of January 8, 2025.
4. The Washington State Department of Health confirmed to CLI that previous Washington State abortion reports have contained errors in which tables were copied over from the prior year. Consequently, all abortion numbers were taken from the CDC reports.

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