The abortion rate in Arizona is the second lowest in a decade, according to a state health report that Gov. Katie Hobbs called invasive and an “attack on freedom.”
State law requires the Arizona Department of Health Services to report annually on abortion statistics, including demographic data on women who get abortions in Arizona. Hobbs said Wednesday the Legislature should repeal the 2010 law, saying in a statement that it “creates a government registry of pregnancies and requires government surveillance of pregnant women.”
“This report is an attack on our freedom, is unacceptable, and must be brought to an end,” she said. “The government has no place in surveilling Arizonans' medical decision-making or tracking their health history.”
Dr. Jill Gibson, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of Arizona, said the reporting requirements are onerous and do not help patient care.
“There's nothing that's contained within this report that's going to help me continue to provide safe and effective abortion care,” she said.
Abortion providers submit data through a secure, web-based system and state health officials compile the information. The Arizona Department of Health Services on Wednesday released a report on abortions from 2023.
Gibson noted that other doctors aren’t required to submit such information to the state, saying “these requirements are uniquely positioned to make it more difficult for abortion providers to provide their care.”
However, Cathi Herrod, president of the conservative Center for Arizona Policy, said the annual report provides Arizonans with important information about women’s health care.
“All that data is helpful as policymakers, as citizens in Arizona, to know, ‘How can we serve women better? How can we spare women the harms of abortion and spare the lives of unborn children?’” she said.
What Arizona’s 2023 abortion report shows
According to the state health department’s annual report, 12,705 abortions were performed in Arizona last year, slightly under the 10-year average.
As Arizona’s population has grown in 10 years, the abortion rate has experienced an overall decline. Last year had the second lowest reported abortion rate behind 2022 of 8.8 abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-44. The rate did increase year to year, but 2022 was when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, causing many providers to temporarily halt abortion services.
“So what we know is that abortion has always been a reality, and it always will be a reality,” Gibson said. “There will always be people who need and seek abortion services.”
Herrod said the number of abortions in Arizona remains too high.
“Abortion hurts women,” she said. “Abortion takes the lives of unborn children. There should be a common goal, a common purpose, to reduce abortions, to have a good, accurate data on abortions and what's going on and how all of us can serve women more, serve women well and take care of unborn children as well.”
About 60% of abortions occur in women in their 20s, with another third in women older than 30. The smallest share, under 10%, are done on women younger than 20.
Between 2014 and 2023, the abortion rate per 1,000 women rose for Black and Native American women. The rate also rose for Hispanic women, but less than a point. Rates fell for white and Asian women.
Nearly 75% of abortions happen under eight gestational weeks. Another 25% happen between 9 and 13 weeks. Very few abortions, only 5%, are done in the 14th and 15th week.
The report also gives some details on the reported reasons for abortions. About three-fourths were reported as elective and 3% were reported as medically necessary. One percent of abortions were reported as being the result of physical assault.
Arizona voters passed Proposition 139 in November, which enshrines the right to abortion in the state Constitution. Gibson said state lawmakers should take note.
“Sixty-one percent of Arizonans support the right to safe and legal abortion in the state, so we really do have a mandate there, and I think that that does shift the discussion,” she said.
