number and rate of abortions across United States have plunged to ir lowest levels since procedure became legal nationwide in 1973, according to new figures released Wednesday.

report from Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, counted 862,000 abortions in U.S. in 2017. That’s down from 926,000 tallied in group’s previous report for 2014, and from just over 1 million counted for 2011.

Guttmacher is only entity that strives to count all abortions in U.S., making inquiries of individual providers. Federal data compiled by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention excludes California, Maryland and New Hampshire.

A decrease in abortions

new report illustrates that abortions are decreasing in all parts of country, wher in Republican-controlled states seeking to restrict abortion access or in Democratic-run states protecting abortion rights. Between 2011 and 2017, abortion rates increased in only five states and District of Columbia.

One reason for decline in abortions is that fewer women are becoming pregnant. Guttmacher Institute ted that birth rate, as well as abortion rate, declined during years covered by new report. A likely factor, report said, is increased accessibility of contraception since 2011, as Affordable Care Act required most private health insurance plans to cover contraceptives without out-of-pocket costs.

According to report, 2017 abortion rate was 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women d 15-44 — lowest rate since Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. We decision legalizing abortion. Following that ruling, number of abortions in U.S. rose steily — peaking at 1.6 million in 1990 before starting a stey, still-continuing decline. abortion rate is w less than half what it was in 1990.

Guttmacher ted that almost 400 state laws restricting abortion access were enacted between 2011 and 2017, but it said se laws were t main force behind overall decline in abortions. It said 57% of nationwide decline occurred in 18 states, plus District of Columbia, that did t enact any new restrictions.

Between 2011 and 2017, number of clinics providing abortion in U.S. declined from 839 to 808, with significant regional disparities, report said. South h a decline of 50 clinics, including 25 in Texas, and Midwest h a decline of 33 clinics, including nine each in Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio. By contrast, rast ded 59 clinics, mostly in New Jersey and New York.

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Over that period, abortion rate dropped in Ohio by 27% and in Texas by 30%, but rate dropped by similar amounts in states that protected abortion access, including California, Hawaii and New Hampshire.

Areas with highest abortion rates in 2017 were District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Florida. Rates were lowest in Wyoming, South Dakota, Kentucky, Idaho, and Missouri — many women from those five states go out of state to obtain abortions.

One significant trend documented in report: People who have abortions are increasingly relying on medication rar than surgery. Medication abortion, making use of so-called abortion pill, accounted for 39% of all abortions in 2017, up from 29% in 2014.

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Abortions restrictions are "are coercive and cruel by design” 

report, which focuses on data from 2017, does t chronicle flurry of sweeping abortion bans that were enacted earlier this year in several GOP-controlled states, including a near-total ban in Alabama and five bills that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy. ne of those bans has taken effect; ir backers hope that litigation over laws might eventually le to a Supreme Court ruling weakening or overturning Roe v. We.

Guttmacher’s president, Dr. Herminia Palacio, said abortion restrictions, regardless of wher y le to fewer abortions, “are coercive and cruel by design,” with a disproportionate impact on low-income women.

However, push for tougher restrictions continues. Just last week, Texas Right to Life and some allied groups urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session of Legislature to “abolish every remaining elective abortion” in state.

report comes amid upheaval in federal family planning program, kwn as Title X. About one in five family planning clinics have left program, objecting to a Trump ministration regulation that bars m from referring women for abortions. Title X clinics provide birth control and basic health services for low-income women.

“If your priority is to reduce abortions, one of best things you can do is make sure that women have access to high-quality, affordable and effective methods of birth control,” said Alina Salganicoff, director of women’s health policy for npartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

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