Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe number of abortions performed in Indiana during 2016 dropped by the largest rate in several years.
An Indiana State Department of Health report shows 7,277 abortions were performed in the state last year, representing an 8.5 percent drop from 2015. Indiana's abortion rate has fallen for eight straight years, but had seen small declines since a 7 percent drop in 2013 from 8,800 abortions the year before.
The state report shows nearly all abortions were carried out at six licensed clinics in Indianapolis, Merrillville, Bloomington and Lafayette. Three other abortion clinics in Gary, South Bend and Indianapolis have closed since 2014.
More than 66 percent of the state's abortions took place in Indianapolis. Nearly 14 percent took place in Bloomington; 17.6 percent happened in Merrillville and 2.4 percent occurred in Lafayette.
Abortion opponents point to tighter state laws approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature for the decline even though federal judges have blocked some of those laws from being enforced.
Abortions have dropped more than 33 percent in Indiana since 2008. The state's all-time high number of abortions was 16,505 in 1980.
Planned Parenthood performed 73 percent of abortions in Indiana in 2016, and increased the number of abortions it performed in 2015 by 1.3 percent.
Bloomington's Planned Parenthood office performed 23.6 percent more abortions last year than it did in 2015.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.