While the number of abortions performed in Minnesota dropped about 2% last year from 2020, the number and percentage of chemical abortions continued to climb, according to the Minnesota Department of Health’s annual report to the Legislature released July 1.

There were 10,136 abortions performed in the state in 2021, down from an updated figure of 10,339 in 2020, the department said. Of those, 6,154, or 61% of the total, were chemically induced last year, the department said. In 2020, more than half of abortions were chemically induced.

“Chemical abortion drugs pose real risks to women’s health, and those risks are increased when they are sent to women without any in-person medical evaluation,” said Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, in a news release about his organization’s analysis of the data, which noted that chemical abortions hit an all-time high. “This is an area where Minnesotans can come together to protect women.”

In their reaction to the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade (which in 1973 had legalized abortion across the country by making it a constitutional right) the bishops of Minnesota, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams of St. Paul and Minneapolis, decried the state high court’s 1995 ruling in Doe v. Gomez that found a state right to abortion. But they cited chemical abortion regulation as one area the state immediately could provide more protection for women.

MCCL’s news release on the abortion statistics also noted the beginning of a post-Roe era, with Fischbach saying “it’s important to support and empower women and to enact commonsense protections for unborn children.”

Abortions in Minnesota have dropped from their peak of 19,028 in 1980, but they have leveled off in recent years, MCCL said. And “Planned Parenthood, which had increased its abortion total for nine consecutive years, saw a slight drop in 2021,” the organization said. “The group still performed 70 percent of all abortions in the state.”

Additional abortion facts in Minnesota, according to MCCL’s summary of the report:

  • A total of 221 abortions took place at 20 weeks (five months) of gestation or later (there were 262 such abortions in 2020). The latest abortion took place at 25 weeks.
  • The suction abortion procedure accounted for 33% of all abortions (down from 38% in 2020). Chemical abortions accounted for 61% (up from 55%). Dilation and evacuation (D & E) dismemberment abortions numbered 611 and accounted for 6% of abortions (687 in 2020).
  • Rape, incest and risk of impairment of a major bodily function were reasons given for less than 1% percent of abortions combined (consistent with past years). 54% of women cited “does not want children at this time” (compared with 53% in 2020). 13% cited “economic reasons” (17% in 2020). In 35% of cases, the reasons are unknown or the woman declined to give a reason.
  • 41% of women had undergone one or more previous abortions (42% in 2020).
  • Complications: 118 complications were reported occurring at the time of the procedure, including cervical laceration and hemorrhage (there were 109 in 2020); 87 complications were reported occurring following the procedure, including 27 cases of “incomplete termination of pregnancy” (there were 89 post-operative complications reported in 2020).
  • Five abortions resulting in a born-alive infant were reported (zero in 2020 and three in 2019); none survived.

The state reports can be found at abortion statistics.