Since Roe Was Dumped, US Abortion Numbers Rise Slightly

Abortion was slightly more common across the US in the first three months of this year than it was before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for states to implement bans, a report released Wednesday found. A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access. The data comes ahead of November elections in which abortion-rights supporters hope the issue will drive voters to the polls, reports the AP.

Fallout from the Supreme Court's June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has remade the way abortion works across the country. The #WeCount data, which has been collected in a monthly survey since April 2022, shows how those providing and seeking abortions have adapted to changing laws:

• The survey found that the number of abortions fell to nearly zero in states that ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy and declined by about half in places that ban it after six weeks of pregnancy. Fourteen states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and four others bar it after about six weeks of pregnancy.
• Numbers went up in places where abortion remains legal until further into pregnancy—and especially in states such as Illinois, Kansas, and New Mexico, which border states with bans.
• Abortion pills and telemedicine play a key role. In March, doctors in states with laws to protect medical providers used telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills to nearly 10,000 patients in states with bans or restrictions on abortion by telehealth—accounting for about 1 in 10 abortions in the US.
• One of the states where abortions increased was Florida. That changed in April, when a ban after six weeks' gestation took effect. The data doesn't yet reflect that change. The policy could change again through a November ballot measure that would make abortion legal until viability, generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy.
• The latest edition of the survey covers the first three months of this year. January was the first time since the survey began that it's counted more than 100,000 abortions across the country in a single month.

More here.

(More Roe v. Wade stories.)