The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June resulted in 10,000 fewer legal abortions nationwide in the following two months, according to a new analysis, as over a dozen states implemented laws that restricted or banned access to the procedure.
Between July and August, the number of surgical and medical abortions fell by 6% compared to baseline numbers in April prior to the decision, according to a report by #WeCount, a national research project led by the Society of Family Planning, which is a proponent of abortion rights.
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d27-d823-a5ff-aff793af0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1667242818969,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1667242818969,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_67225758", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1128646"} }); ","theme.0000017c-2d32-d5c4-af7f-7d77b7920000.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs.enhancementAlignment":null,"theme.0000017c-2d32-d5c4-af7f-7d77b7920000.:core:enhancement:Enhancement.hbs._template":null,"_id":"00000184-2f6a-d2c9-a9e6-bf7a76070001","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedAbortions dropped by 95% in states that banned or severely restricted access to the procedure, comparing August to April, while states with protections in place, such as North Carolina and Kansas, saw a small rise in abortions.
FLU SEASON OFF TO EARLY START WITH HOSPITALIZATIONS ON THE RISE
“Overturning Roe v. Wade created a sudden disruption in abortion care, compounding the crisis in access that people in some states had already experienced before the decision. We are likewise not seeing a comparable surge in other states to close this gap, which suggests that traveling to get care in a state that allows abortion has not been a realistic option for a significant portion of people denied care,” said Alison Norris, co-chair of #WeCount.
The report outlines that an uptick in abortions within states where the procedure remained legal did not increase enough to make up for the drop in states where it was banned or restricted.
In states with bans or restrictions, there were about 22,000 fewer abortions in July and August. In Texas, the monthly estimated number of abortions provided by a clinician dropped to roughly 10 from the 2,770 abortions provided overall in April. The report noted that it only began to track trends in April, six months after Texas’s six-week abortion ban took effect, and was “unable to detect the surges that had already taken place in Texas, bordering states, and beyond.”
Within states where it was legal, abortions rose by 11% overall, comparing April to August, with North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, and Illinois seeing the largest increases in women undergoing the procedure.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The report, which collected abortion data from clinics, hospitals, and telemedicine providers, projects that if current trends were to continue for the next 12 months, there would be 60,000 fewer abortions. It included abortion data from 79% of the nation’s abortion providers, which performed 82% of all abortions prior to the June ruling. It did not include data regarding self-managed abortions, meaning an abortion performed outside a formal medical setting, such as with abortion pills.
Michael New, an assistant professor of social research at the Catholic University of America, suggested that not all of the decline could be attributed to the June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which determined that there is no constitutional right to abortion, as some states that already had restrictive laws in place had seen reductions in abortions prior to the decision.
