Abortions at or after 21 weeks of gestation account for about 1% of all abortions in the United States. The vast majority occur much earlier: 93% happen at 13 weeks or sooner, according to 2022 CDC surveillance data. The remaining 6% take place between 14 and 20 weeks.
The Numbers by Gestational Age
The CDC tracks abortion timing in three broad categories. In 2022, the breakdown looked like this:
- 13 weeks or earlier: 92.8% of all abortions
- 14 to 20 weeks: 6.1%
- 21 weeks or later: 1.1%
Guttmacher Institute data from the same year offers a slightly more detailed picture of the earliest abortions: 40% occurred at six weeks or earlier, and another 53% between 7 and 13 weeks. That means roughly 93% of abortions were completed by the end of the first trimester, consistent with the CDC figures.
The trend over time has moved toward earlier procedures. Medication abortion, which is typically used through 10 to 12 weeks, now accounts for 63% of all U.S. abortions. Nearly a quarter of those are prescribed through telemedicine.
Why “Late-Term” Is a Misleading Phrase
The phrase “late-term abortion” is widely used in public debate, but it has no medical meaning. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines “late term” as 41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days of gestation, a period that refers to a pregnancy nearing or past its due date. No abortions occur at that stage. The medically accurate language is “abortion later in pregnancy,” typically referring to procedures at or after 21 weeks.
Why Some Abortions Happen Later
The 1% of abortions occurring at 21 weeks or beyond generally fall into two categories: people who received new medical information that changed their pregnancy, and people who faced barriers that delayed an earlier abortion.
On the medical side, many serious fetal conditions simply cannot be detected until later in pregnancy. The standard anatomy scan, where doctors use ultrasound to examine every developing organ, happens between 18 and 22 weeks. Structural problems like severe heart defects, brain abnormalities, or missing organs are often invisible before this point. Some of these are lethal conditions, meaning the fetus would almost certainly die before or shortly after birth. Life-threatening maternal conditions can also emerge later, including severe preeclampsia, cancer requiring immediate treatment, or intrauterine infections.
On the access side, nearly half of people who obtained an abortion after 20 weeks didn’t realize they were pregnant until later in the pregnancy. Others knew but couldn’t get to a clinic in time. Common barriers include not knowing where to go, transportation problems, lack of insurance, and inability to pay. One Federal Reserve survey found that 32% of U.S. adults couldn’t cover a $400 emergency expense, and later abortions cost significantly more than earlier ones, creating a cycle where financial hardship pushes the procedure further into pregnancy.
How State Laws Shape Access
Where someone lives plays a major role in whether a later abortion is even possible. Nine states plus Washington, D.C. have no gestational limit on abortion. These include Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.
Ten states, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, and Washington, allow abortion up to the point of viability, generally considered to be 24 to 26 weeks. A handful of others set a firm cutoff at 24 weeks, including Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Pennsylvania. Many remaining states have bans much earlier or prohibit abortion entirely.
Post-Dobbs Shifts in Timing
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the patchwork of state laws has pushed more people to travel for care, and that travel takes time. Research published in the American Journal of Public Health found a 75% increase in abortions at 12 weeks or later at facilities that continued providing care post-Dobbs. The same study documented a 191% increase in out-of-state patients at those clinics. The pattern is consistent with what access researchers predicted: when nearby clinics close, people don’t stop seeking abortions, but they get them later because of the additional logistical hurdles of crossing state lines, arranging childcare, and covering travel costs on top of the procedure itself.
The overall number of abortions in the U.S. has not declined post-Dobbs, partly because of the expansion of telemedicine-prescribed medication abortion. But medication abortion is only an option early in pregnancy. For people delayed past that window by new legal barriers, the remaining path involves more complex, more expensive, and harder-to-access procedures further along in gestation.