| Characteristic | 1972 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 |
| No. of legal abortions | 586,760 | 1297,606 | 1328,570 | 1429,577 | 1388,937 | 1359,145 |
| Abortion ratio | 180 | 359 | 354 | 345 | 339 | 335 |
| Abortion rate | 13 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 |
| % age 25+ | 34.9 | 35.3 | 39.0 | 44.4 | 44.6 | 45.3 |
| % Black | 23.0 | 30.1 | 29.8 | 31.8 | 32.5 | 33.3 |
| % Hispanic | n/a | n/a | n/a | 9.8 | 13.5 | 15.1 |
| % with prev. birth | 50.6 | 41.6 | 43.7 | 50.8 | 52.3 | 53.7 |
| % suction method | 65.2 | 89.8 | 94.6 | 96.0 | 97.3 | 97.9 |
| % 13+ weeks | 17.8 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 11.4 | 11.1 | 11.2 |
Abortion rates = no. of abortions per 1000 women age 15-44
Abortion ratio = no. of abortions per 1000 live births
All percentage figures are based on the total number of abortions in a given year, e.g. "33.3% Black" means that of all 1,359,145 legal abortions in 1992, 33.3 percent were performed on African-American women (though nationwide African-Americans account for only 12 percent of the total population).