Abortion rates rise despite Roe v. Wade reversal

Abortion rates rise overview: 

• Who: The Society of Family Planning’s WeCount revealed the total average number of legal abortions increased each month year-over-year in the year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 
• Why: Researchers attribute the increase to women having easier access to mail-order abortion pills, more support and options for those who travel for an abortion, and more information about how to obtain the procedure. 
• Where: Fourteen states outright banned abortion in the year after the Supreme Court ruling in June 2022. 

The total number of legal abortions increased each month year-over-year in the year after the Supreme Court made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — the 1973 ruling that made abortion access a federal right in the U.S. — in June 2022. 

The rate of legal abortions in the U.S. increased by an average of 0.02% per month, according to a full-year count by WeCount of abortions provided around the country, The New York Times reports. 

The increase in legal abortions during that time came despite 14 states making it against the law to get an abortion of any kind, while an additional seven states imposed new limits on what would allow them to be obtained. 

The restrictions — which include a six-week gestational limit — have decreased the rate of legal abortions to practically zero in some states; however, a large increase has been found in states where abortion remains legal, according to The New York Times. 

There were reportedly around 7,900 fewer abortions in states that banned the procedure and around 1,600 fewer in states with a six-week gestational limit. 

On the other hand, there was an increase of around 8,000 abortions in states that bordered one with a ban in place and an increase of around 1,700 in other non-border states where abortion remains legal, according to a New York Times graphic. 

Abortion access made easier in some ways following reversal of Roe v. Wade, researchers say

Researchers attribute the abortion increase to more information being available on how to get the procedure, the ability to get mail-order abortion pills through telemedicine appointments, and an increase in support and options for women who travel to get an abortion.

There were an average of 82,298 abortions performed each month during the 12 months following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, compared with a monthly average of 82,115 in the two months preceding the ruling, according to The New York Times. 

The data — which was collected from 83% percent of known abortion providers — was compiled by the group WeCount, which is part of pro-abortion rights group Society of Family Planning. 

In August, a district judge temporarily blocked abortion bans in Texas that could prevent access to an abortion during a medical emergency, ruling that uncertainty around medical exceptions for the bans put pregnant women in danger. 

Are you surprised there have been more abortions on average than before Roe v. Wade was reversed? Let us know in the comments.

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