Abortions spike around states with restrictions after Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade
Breccan F. Thies
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Abortions spiked in states neighboring or near those with restrictions after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to a new study.
From January to June 2023, the Guttmacher Institute estimates that abortions nationally remained in the mid-80,000 per month range, except in March, where the number spiked to around 91,800.
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Guttmacher was initially founded as the research wing of Planned Parenthood but became independent in 2007.
“What we’re seeing in this dataset isn’t a new trend,” Tessa Longbons, Senior Research Associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, told the Washington Examiner. “The increase in abortions pre-dates the June 2022 Dobbs decision and has been heavily influenced by the Biden administration’s aggressive push to deregulate and push mail-order abortion pills.”
In 2023, 14 states completely restricted abortions, 13 of which were from modern legislation, with Wisconsin having an 1849 restriction take effect after the fall of Roe. Virtually zero abortions were performed in those states this year. In 2020, those states accounted for about 113,000 abortions, or 12% of abortions in the United States that year.
The number of abortions in the United States was on the rise prior to the 2022 Supreme Court decision, with an 8% increase from 2017 to 2020. Guttmacher noted that some data suggest the increase continued into 2022.
Some states, like Texas, had significant decreases in abortion, as it instituted near-total restrictions with limited exceptions that made up about 17 abortions reported in the first four months of 2023, according to state data. In 2020, Texas saw about 4,800 abortions per month.
However, statewide abortion restrictions across the U.S. have turned some states’ permissive neighbors into abortion tourism zones, increasing their numbers for the procedure substantially.
“We know the majority of abortions in the United States are concentrated in a few states,” Longbons said. “At the same time, many states with pro-life protections are now reporting significant decreases in abortions, with some states reporting zero abortions. However, across the board, state reporting of abortion is incredibly incomplete.”
Over the three-year period, Illinois, which is bordered by Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Iowa — nearly all of which have some form of restriction — increased its abortion numbers by 69% from 2020 to 2023.
“Research has long shown that abortion bans and restrictions have especially harsh impacts on those with the fewest resources who are already marginalized by the healthcare system, including people living with low incomes, black and brown communities and other people of color, young people, LGBTQ people and those in rural communities,” the abortion research group noted.
Despite South Carolina now restricting abortion with a heartbeat bill, barring the procedure after around six weeks, the Palmetto State was late in the South to enact legislation compared to its neighbors. As a result, the state saw a 124% increase from 2020 to 2023.
In New Mexico, a state with zero abortion restrictions and one that borders Texas, the procedure spiked 220% since 2020.
Ultimately, Longbons said that it is difficult to know true abortion numbers since there is no federal reporting standard and that the statewide reporting systems are “absolute chaos.”
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“We encourage the pro-abortion side to join us in calling for complete reporting data from states,” she said. “Now more than ever, we need comprehensive, objective data on abortion.”
The abortion landscape is still changing in the United States, with some states attempting restrictions that are being held up in court and others, like Wisconsin, whose current leaders are trying to undo the 1849 restriction and whose voters recently elected an openly pro-abortion state supreme court justice, Janet Protasiewicz.