INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Health released a data report Friday regarding abortion statistics last year in the state, showing that over 8,400 people terminated a pregnancy in 2021 in Indiana.
The total number of reported pregnancy terminations in the state for the entire year was 8,414, the report said. Of those, over 94% of the patients were Indiana residents.
465 of the pregnancy termination patients were from out of state, according to IDOH. The state with the most residents that traveled to Indiana for an abortion last year was Kentucky.
These numbers are a part of a two-year upward trend of pregnancy terminations in the state. Both resident and non-resident abortion numbers grew from 2019 to 2020 and grew again from 2020 to 2021. The graph representing this increase can be seen below.
The average age of a patient who got an abortion in 2021 in Indiana was 27, with patients ranging in age from 12 to 55. Around 58.7% of the year’s abortions had patients between 20 and 29 years old, with the second-highest age demographic being patients under 20 at 8.7%. 67 patients were under 16 years old.
With regards to race and ethnicity, almost half, or 47.77%, of the people who received pregnancy terminations reported their race as White and nearly one-third, or 35.35%, said they were Black or African American. Additionally, Hispanic or Latino-identifying people accounted for 9.90% of terminations in 2021.
A vast majority, around 86%, of the people who reported receiving an abortion were unmarried at 7,256. With regards to education, over 91% of those who had terminations had at least a high school diploma or GED.
Outside of demographics, the report provided specific information on the types of abortions that were provided and when they were completed in the pregnancy.
In 2021, the report said, 68.09% of all terminated pregnancies occurred at eight weeks gestation or less and terminations that occurred at 14 weeks gestation or more occurred at an acute care hospital. A full graph breaking down all the reported gestation times of terminated pregnancies can be seen below.
Non-surgical pregnancy terminations were more common than surgical in 2021, with abortion pills such as Mifepristone and Misoprostol accounting for 4,791 terminations. Of the 8,414 women who had a terminated pregnancy in 2021, 66 had an unsuccessful first attempt and had to return to the facility for an additional procedure.
In addition to unsuccessful first attempts, the report listed other abortion complications patients reported experiencing. According to IDOH, no maternal deaths were reported from abortions in 2021 and 49 patients experienced a total of 51 complications. Those complications, which include cervical lacerations and hemorrhages, are graphed below.
At the end of the report, the IDOH acknowledged that reporting pregnancy terminations does have limitations. The full statement regarding accuracy is below.
“Demographic and pregnancy history are reported by the patient, so the information reported is subject to bias, or error. Additionally, patients who required a second procedure to complete the termination may have reported the second procedure as a new record or visited a different facility to complete the procedure; either scenario would lead to a false increase in the number of terminations reported to the Indiana Department of Health. The number could also be falsely inflated if a patient had an incomplete procedure but ultimately chose to give birth because the reported termination would have been incomplete. Finally, the analyzed data has been taken only from reported terminated pregnancies, and thus necessarily excludes data for terminations that may have occurred but were not reported.”
Indiana Department of Health
To read the full report, which includes additional geographic and provider information, click here.
