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Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the number of abortions in the United States is on the rise, but changing policies are changing the way women access them.
In the year In the spring of 2024, from April to June, there were an average of about 97,500 abortions per month in the US; Report From the Family Planning Association. The nonprofit organization tracks abortion rates reported by clinics, private medical offices, hospitals and virtual clinic providers with quarterly #WeCount reports.
As in previous years, the majority of abortions in the spring of 2024 – nearly 80% – were performed in person. But it was a bit of a downer compared to. Last year, there were about 2,000 fewer abortions per month on average.
Meanwhile, telehealth abortions — medications delivered by mail after a remote consultation with a doctor — are on the rise, especially for women who live in states with bans or restrictions on medical abortions offered under shield laws.
Shield laws provide certain legal protections for providers who practice in some states where abortion is legal, or for people living in states with restrictions to prescribe medication abortions via telehealth. The Family Planning Society has included data on abortions provided by shield laws for a year, and the numbers are growing.
In the summer of 2023, from July to September, an average of about 5,700 abortions were provided each month under the Shield Act. In the year By the spring of 2024, that number was more than 9,700 abortions per month.
Abortions under Shield laws jumped from about 1 in 16 abortions in the summer of 2023 to 1 in 10 in the spring of 2024, according to the new report.
“In this highly restrictive abortion care environment, medical abortions provided via telehealth under Shield laws are contributing significantly to abortion,” said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, co-chair of #WeCount and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, promoting the new San Francisco Standards in Reproductive Health, in a statement. Lai said.
In many states where abortion is banned, shield laws and out-of-state travel have helped residents obtain abortions at the same — and sometimes higher — before the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturned federal abortion rights and cleared the way. To make it illegal for states.
In West Virginia, for example, there were 835 abortions among state residents in mid-2020 — split between in-state and out-of-state abortions, according to #WeCount and Guttmacher Institute data. In the second half of 2023, there were nearly twice as many abortions among West Virginia residents, with more than 1,000 provided out-of-state and more than 200 obtained through shield laws.
Similarly, in Tennessee, there were nearly 2,000 more abortions provided to state residents in the second half of 2023 than in the second half of 2020. 1,100 in the 2020 half, and more than 1,800 have access to medication abortions under Shield laws.
But the story is not consistent across states with bans or bans.
In Texas, where Travel time Abortions ranged from about 15 minutes to eight hours after Dobbs, an average of more than 17,000 women in 2010. They traveled in the second half of 2023. And about 12,400 women get abortions under the Shield law — more than in any other country. But there was still a gap: 1,000 fewer abortions were provided to Texas residents in the last six months of 2023 than in the last six months of 2020, the new report shows.
State policies have continued to change in the years since the Dobbs decision. Voters in at least 10 states Next month's election will determine the future of abortion in their state. But abortion doesn't always go hand in hand with changing policies, the new report suggests.
Florida's 6-week ban goes into effect in May 2024. Between March and May, there were 2,500 fewer abortions in the state, but only about 400 more abortions provided by shield laws, #WeCount data shows.
“As abortion continues to be banned, the importance of abortion care continues,” said Dr. Alison Norris, co-chair of the #WeCount project and professor in the Ohio State University College of Public Health, in a statement. “There is still a hugely unmet need for abortion care across the country. Abortion restrictions have a lasting and harmful impact, especially on people who are forced to travel long distances to access abortion care, postpone their care, or continue their pregnancy against their will.”
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Starting in March 2023, #WeCount found a small but consistent increase in average US abortions each month. But the researchers realize that monitoring the number of abortions does not capture the main interest. The trends do not include more self-administered abortions, such as those provided by online stores or voluntary networks, and more women Not being able to get care at all.
In fact, other recent studies have shown Birth rates And Death of children It increased following the Dobbs decision.
“We are unable to estimate the number of people who are unable to access abortion care and carry their unwanted pregnancies to term,” the #WeCount researchers wrote. Before comprehensive abortion bans were enacted, the inability to have an abortion was a reality for many people, and it is a reality for many, even in states where abortion is legal.