The first attempt to do a nationwide census of abortions following the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court discovered that in the first two months after the ruling, legal abortions declined nationwide by more than 10,000, or about 6%.
In 13 states, predominantly in the South, legal abortions were either outlawed or highly restricted during those months, with the number of abortions performed there essentially zero, according to meticulous calculations made by a consortium of academics and abortion providers.
In the nine additional states that implemented major new abortion restrictions, the number of legal abortions fell by one-third. In states with restrictions and bans, there were on average 22,000 fewer abortions in the months of July and August compared to the pre-decision baseline month of April.
In states where the practice remained legal, the number of abortions increased by about 11%
In states where the practice remained legal, the number of abortions increased by about 12,000, or 11%. According to The New York Times, this suggests that nearly 50% of women who were unable to get abortions in states with legislation went to another state to do so. Despite these increases, it appears that thousands of abortions have been outlawed by the new state laws.
WeCount, a new organization sponsored by the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports abortion rights, provided the statistics for this article. It is compiling data on abortions from clinics, hospitals, and telemedicine providers around the country.
It obtained thorough information on abortions from 79% of the nation’s abortion providers, who were in charge of 82% of all abortions before the court’s Dobbs decision. Based on state statistics and historical trends, researchers developed adjustments to approximate the missing data.
WeCount also found that the number of abortions performed nationwide increased
Comprehensive data on the number of abortions performed in the US are typically compiled and published over years. WeCount was created in order to provide more real-time data from more vendors.
WeCount also found that in the two months after the Supreme Court’s impending decision leaked but before Roe was overruled, the number of abortions performed nationwide increased. This data could indicate that some women were having abortions earlier than they normally would have or that clinics were expanding in preparation for bans.
