Liberals should open the champagne and celebrate the good news. Even though new rules and bans on abortion have been put in place since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, a recent report shows that the number of abortions in the U.S. is still going up.
In the first three months of 2024, there were about 98,990 abortions each month, according to data from #WeCount, a project by the Society of Family Planning. This is about 14% more than the same time last year, or 12,000 more abortions each month.
Roe v. Wade was a Supreme Court case decided on January 22, 1973. The Court agreed that the Constitution allows a woman to choose to have an abortion without too many government rules. They said that a woman’s right to privacy, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, includes the choice to have an abortion. This decision made abortion legal all over the country.
The decision has been a hot topic for supporters and critics alike. Some critics thought the decision wasn’t good because they believed the Supreme Court was making new rules instead of just interpreting existing ones. Others were worried about how the decision used the idea of a “right to privacy” to support abortion. Many people also disagreed with the decision based on their personal beliefs about when life begins and the rights of unborn babies.
These concerns led to many legal and political challenges. SCOTUS decided on a related case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, on June 24, 2022. This ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal right to abortion. It turned the decision back to the states, allowing them to set their abortion laws.
Liberals wasted no time painting a picture of dingy back alley rooms, filthy equipment, and millions of desperate women dying because they decided to have an abortion. Politicians campaign on the issue, and abortion has been used to try and keep former President Donald Trump out of the White House.
The surging number of abortions should be a reason for celebration for fetus haters across the nation. While experts note that there are “seasonal” shifts in abortion rates throughout the year, the number of abortions went over 100,000 in a month for the first time in two years.
Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, a co-chair of #WeCount, said she thinks the numbers might level off soon. Still, they keep going up with each report. She noted that there is still a lot of demand for abortions that is being met in different ways.
A big part of the increase is due to more people getting medication abortions, primarily through telehealth. When #WeCount first started tracking data in April 2022, only about 4% of abortions were medication abortions. By March 2024, that number had risen to 20%.
In the first three months of 2024, the number of in-person abortions stayed about the same as last year, while telehealth abortions went up by 28%.
In states where abortion is more restricted, more abortions are being done with the help of shield laws. These laws protect doctors in states where abortion is legal so they can prescribe medication for abortions via telehealth to people in states with strict abortion bans.
In the first three months of 2024, almost a third of all telehealth abortions were done using shield laws. Each month, about 6,700 of these abortions were for women in states with complete or near-complete abortion bans. Nearly 2,500 were for people in states with restrictions on telehealth abortions.
Dr. Alison Norris, a co-chair of #WeCount and a professor at Ohio State University, explained that even though the total number of abortions has gone up, it doesn’t show the whole picture. She pointed out that it’s still difficult for people living in states with abortion bans, especially if they need to get abortion care in person.
In the 14 states that have put bans in place since the Dobbs decision, abortions have almost stopped. According to estimates from the new report, this has led to nearly 10,000 fewer in-person abortions in those states each month.
The use of telehealth for abortions changes from state to state. In places with fewer restrictions, like New Mexico and Illinois, about 10% of abortions were done through telehealth. But in Wyoming, where there have been recent court decisions stopping new abortion bans, more than half of all abortions were done through telehealth.
Abortion has become the rallying cry for Democrats, especially since they have little else to run on for the 2024 election cycle. The latest abortion numbers are a mixed bag for liberals. On the one hand, they have a reason to rejoice since women still enjoy the benefits of ending their pregnancies on a whim. But the numbers also mean that their campaign focus is a flop.
