New Study Shows Impact of Abortion Restrictions on Access

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, it was clear that access to abortion would be severely curtailed in many states. A recent study has quantified this impact in the first six months after the June 24 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe.

There were 32,260 fewer abortions across the country from July through December 2022 than in the previous six months, or an average of 5,377 fewer abortions per month, according to the #WeCount report, released by the Society of Family Planning, an organization that conducts research on abortion and contraception. The national rate decreased to 12.3 per 1,000 women of reproductive age by December, compared to 13.2 per 1,000 women in April of last year. The states that saw the most declines were Texas (15,540 fewer abortions), Georgia (10,930 fewer), Tennessee (6,560 fewer), and Ohio (4,920 fewer).

The #WeCount report also says that states with abortion bans in place saw “a cumulative total of 43,410 fewer people who had abortions.” In states where abortion rights are intact, there was a cumulative total increase of 11,150 abortions.

“I think it’s important to note that for many abortion patients, traveling out of state is just not an option,” said Hannah Simons, the national director of research and evaluation at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who was on the research committee for the #WeCount report. “We find in the report that about 43,000 fewer people had abortions. And [in] states where abortion remains intact, available, and legal, there were only 11,000 more people able to get an abortion. So I think it’s fair to say that states where abortion remained legal could not compensate for that lack of access [in] other states that have totally banned abortion or have severe restrictions on access to abortion.”

The data came from abortion providers in clinics, private practices, hospitals, and virtual clinics nationwide. Creating such a huge database and processing a large amount of data proved to be a formidable task. As Jenny O’Donnell, the senior director of research and evaluation at the Society, explained, no one entity could do it alone. So a collaborative effort was set up with public health experts from colleges such as Emory University and the University of Texas at Austin, along with other abortion rights organizations, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Guttmacher Institute, and Ibis Reproductive Health.

A previous #WeCount report, which compared abortion rates between April 2022 and August 2022. was released in October 2022, and two more reports are in the works.

There were some states that saw an increase, most notably Florida (7,190 more), Illinois (6,840 more), North Carolina (4,730 more), Colorado (2,580 more), and Michigan (2,490 more). The report mentions that a large proportion of these increases is due to people traveling out of state for abortion care. However, the researchers warn that restrictions may continue to be put in place in states such as Florida that have been a destination for access.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to see that now with more barriers and less legal access to abortion, it continues to be hard and harder for more people,” O’Donnell said, noting that pre-Dobbs, “it was already very difficult for folks to access abortion. Post-Dobbs, it is more difficult, but we already knew from research that low-income people, people of color, young people, folks living in rural communities, and folks living in states that previously had very restrictive settings and now are banned were struggling.”

Another notable finding was a big increase in what the report calls “telehealth abortions provided by virtual clinics,” which rose from 3,610, or 4% of all abortions, in April 2022 to 8,540, or 11% of abortions, a 137% increase.

Rachel Jones, a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, said growth of virtual clinics was surprisingly fast. Prior to Dodd, she said, “they were just getting started and were giving so few abortions … and they’ve really scaled up.” Jones believes that while virtual clinics will not replace brick-and-mortar clinics, telehealth abortion care will likely continue to grow.

Meanwhile, the team behind the #WeCount report is closely tracking the embattled legal status of the abortion pill mifepristone. As of late April, the Supreme Court stayed a ruling by Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would have reversed the 23-year-old FDA approval of the drug; appeals are ongoing.

“There’s been a lot of volatility in the service delivery landscape in the post-Dobbs period,” O’Donnell said. “And that is a challenge for everyone, the service providers and people seeking care. I think the current legal issues around mifepristone create more of that instability and can’t help but threaten people’s access to care.”

On top of that, Florida recently passed a six-week abortion ban, and North Dakota just passed one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country. It remains to be seen what the data on the next #WeCount report will show following these two laws. An interactive map on the Society’s website shows how the number of abortions drastically dropped in some states where abortion is either prohibited or severely restricted, such as Texas, Ohio, and Tennessee. It also shows the increase in the number of abortions in states with legal protections, including Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. There are also some states, like Washington (-2%), Kansas (-4%), and New Hampshire (-5%), that saw a minimal decrease in the number of abortions.

The teams who have worked on these reports continue to fight for abortion rights and access, both through #WeCount and in their own advocacy. O’Donnell explained that the primary goal of these reports is to be of service to those who are trying to meet people’s needs in seeking abortion care. She further explained, “While advocates have been skillfully using these data, it is the clinics, abortion funds, practical support organizations, state governments supportive of abortion access, and donors who can use this information to guide their time, energy, and limited funds to be of greatest service.”

O’Donnell said the name #WeCount refers to the value of everyone involved in the work behind these reports. “I think it also was meant to value all the people involved in what’s behind those numbers,” she said. “And that any one number of an abortion represents someone’s life. And any one number of abortion also represents a lot of effort on the part of those that are trying to help meet that person’s needs. So it’s meant to both say we’re counting, and this is the action we’re taking, but also to say that everyone holds value in the system.”