As “heartbeat” bills are sweeping the country and Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics are closing at a significant pace, some are claiming this will force women to have abortions at home at an increasing rate. Yet statistics here and abroad, particularly places where abortion is still illegal, demonstrate otherwise. If anything, abortions overall will continue to decline.
In a Vox piece entitled “A boom in at-home abortion is coming,” reporter Anna North begins with the story of a woman named Marie who is taking mifepristone and misoprostol to induce an abortion at home. She argues, “there’s no comprehensive data on the phenomenon, experts say a growing number of pregnant people are, like Marie, choosing to self-manage their abortions, getting pills or herbs over the internet, through friends or non-clinical providers, and taking them on their own. Advocates say the number is likely to grow even more in the years to come.”
Really? Before “heartbeat” laws came into effect, in 2017, Guttmacher reported abortion was at an all-time low. In 2018, Time reported that, according to CDC statistics, abortion was again at an all-time low. Why would abortion rates increase when they were already decreasing when abortions were readily available either through mifepristone and misoprostol or a clinic?
Even more compelling are statistics from places like Ireland that showcase a logical progression of healthcare that comes from an abortion ban. While Ireland reversed its abortion ban in 2018, it had been illegal for decades. Did women kill themselves attempting abortion? Not at all. Before it banned abortion, Ireland was one of the safest places in the world to have a baby. Because abortion was not an option, in a survey, “95% of members of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that they could preserve mother’s lives and health without abortion.” Likewise, because abortion was unavailable, “maternal mortality figures [were] excellent. … In 1996, for instance, there were 50,390 births in Ireland and there was 1 maternal death.”
I suppose it’s possible the at-home use of mifepristone and misoprostol could increase. But that will not only be difficult to track, the trajectory of abortion seems to refute that, if just as a cultural stance. If anything, more women who have unplanned pregnancies will probably have their babies and either keep them or give them up for adoption.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
