A new report released today by the national #WeCount Project by the Society for Family Planning shows that in the two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, there was a dramatic decrease in abortions as state bans shut down abortion care and pushed abortion out of reach for thousands of people.
In July and August 2022, providers reported 5,270 and 5,400 fewer abortions per month, respectively, compared to April 2022. The drop was driven by states that banned or severely restricted abortion care. In states that banned abortion during that time, abortions decreased by 95%, comparing August to April. Meanwhile, states with legal protections for abortion saw a comparably small rise in abortion care.
The combined drop in Texas of abortions over the two months was -5470. The overall decrease in abortions suggests that people were:
🚙 forced to travel to another state,
🗓 delay their abortion,
🗣self-manage their abortion, or
🙇🏽♀️continue a pregnancy they did not want.
The declines in the numbers of abortion occurred in the same states with the greatest structural and social inequities in terms of maternal morbidity and mortality and poverty. Thus, the impact of the Dobbs decision is not equally distributed. People of color and people working to make ends meet have been impacted the most.
Substantial research has documented grave consequences of not being able to obtain a wanted abortion that persist for years. Compared to people who receive desired abortions, those who seek but are unable to obtain a desired abortion experience a variety of negative outcomes, including increased economic insecurity, poorer physical health, and continued exposure to violence from the man involved in the pregnancy.
TxPEP lead investigator Kari White is part of the steering committee for the #WeCount project. #WeCount is a time-limited study collecting monthly abortion volume data by state to better understand the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on abortion access.