UNITED STATES—The U.S. abortion rate has hit its lowest since abortion was first legalized in 1973 in U.S. Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade.

Statistics are from the Guttmacher Institute. Pregnancy Care and Crisis Pregnancy centers who promote life, adoption, abstinence, sexual and sexual integrity are on the rise.

According to Guttmacher Institute, 18 percent of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) ended in abortion in 2017. There were approximately 862,320 abortions in 2017 which is down 7 percent from the 926,190 abortions in 2014. In 2017, the abortion rate was 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-44. The Guttmacher Institute is the same group Planned Parenthood uses for their own abortion statistics.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) figures do not include numbers for the states of California, New Hampshire, or Maryland. Another report stated that the actual number of all surgical abortions in the U.S. in 2017 was just over a million, or 3,000 a day.

From 2011-2017, abortion rates decreased in all, but five states. Guttmacher does not attribute the decline in abortions because of stricter sanctions in areas that are predominantly Republican. There was also a decline in abortions in the Democratic regions with looser abortion laws.

Guttmacher attributes the decrease in abortions to two main factors: the access to the Morning after pill and other abortion-causing drugs and more teens are choosing abstinence. Another factor is the closure of many abortion facilities.

In 1994, there were over 2,000 abortion facilities in operation in the United States and approximately 800 crisis pregnancy/pregnancy facilities. With the closing of many abortion facilities, more people are turning to pregnancy care centers. According to Heartbeat International, there are 2,700 crisis pregnancy centers around the world. Close to 300 of these are in California. These centers operate as non-profits. They offer services such as free ultrasounds, free parenting classes, and free pregnancy tests.

The CDC claims that STDs are at an all-time high. Three STDs rose considerably in 2017; gonorrhea rose by 67 percent, syphilis by 76 percent, and chlamydia by 21 percent There were 2.3 million cases reported nationwide. The CDC has shown an increase for the fourth year in a row.