Legal abortions most likely increased in the United States in the first six months of the year compared with 2020, an analysis of new estimates shows, as states with more permissive abortion laws absorbed patients traveling from those with bans and access to abortion pills via telemedicine continued to expand.
New research from the Guttmacher Institute offers the latest view of legal abortions since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last year upended access to abortion nationwide and allowed more than a dozen states to ban or restrict the procedure.
The data suggests that thousands of women have crossed state lines to obtain an abortion, in the face of restrictions at home. It also indicates a rise in abortions among those living in states where the procedure is legal.
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Abortions rose in nearly every state where the procedure remains legal, but the change was most visible in states bordering those with total abortion bans. Many of these states loosened abortion laws, and providers opened new clinics to serve patients coming from elsewhere. In Illinois, for example, where abortion is legal, abortions rose an estimated 69 percent in 2023 compared with the same period in 2020, to about 45,000 from 26,000.
Other states with restrictive neighbors, like Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina, also had jumps in estimated counts of abortions.
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Researchers emphasized that the rise in abortions so far in 2023 does not mean that state bans have had no impact on access.
“Travel doesn’t come without a cost,” said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute and the lead researcher on the institute’s report. “Just because someone isn’t denied an abortion doesn’t mean it was an easy experience. And we know that some can’t leave their state.”
There are no estimates yet of women who were denied abortions or those who were unable to get them. The increases in most states may also mask the number of abortions prevented by the bans.
“Abortions had begun rising in advance of Dobbs, and they may have continued to rise even more steeply than observed if it weren’t for the bans,” Dr. Myers said.
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Researchers caution that more work is needed to better assess both the impact of abortion restrictions as well as the explosion of access to abortion pills through telehealth and underground networks.
The picture is expected to shift later this year, as more restrictions take effect. Guttmacher researchers collected abortion data before legislatures enacted bans and restrictions in Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Here's an expert who publicly predicted this correctly. Good for her! From: Banning abortions will not stop abortions (Your Local Epidemiologist)
Here's an expert who publicly predicted this correctly. Good for her!
A law will not decrease the number of abortions. It will shift where people get abortions, increase the number of illegal abortions, directly and indirectly impact the health of women, and worsen health disparities in the U.S.
From the article:
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Here's an expert who publicly predicted this correctly. Good for her!
From: Banning abortions will not stop abortions (Your Local Epidemiologist)
And here’s a direct link to the Guttmacher Institute’s publication. It discusses sources, methods, and additional data.