New data indicate that following the state’s implementation of a near-total ban on the procedure this summer, the monthly number of abortions performed in Texas decreaed from a few thousand to fewer than ten.
After the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas, which already had a lot of restrictions on abortion, was responsible for more than half of the decline in abortions nationwide.
According to three brand-new studies, some people living in states that prohibit abortion have found alternative methods for terminating their pregnancies, including self-managing at home or traveling outside the state.However, these alternatives have not completely compensated for the declines in the state.
According to a study conducted by the Society of Family Planning and the national abortion data group #WeCount, at least 10,000 people did not obtain in-clinic abortions due to recent state bans like the one in Texas.
The study’s authors wrote, “Substantial research has documented grave consequences of not being able to obtain a desired abortion that persist for years.”There are a number of negative outcomes for those who want an abortion but are unable to get it, such as increased economic insecurity, poorer physical health, and continued exposure to violence from the man who is carrying the child.
w data, same result When Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June, Texas already had the strictest abortion law in the country, which prohibited most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
Texas saw a sharp drop in the number of abortions after that state law went into effect more than a year ago.Texas saw approximately 55,000 abortions in the previous year;There were less than 14,000 in the six months that followed.
According to data from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas at Austin, there was a decline in in-state abortions, but there was an increase in Texans traveling out of state for abortions.Sep
rate from the #WeCount data, the UT-Austin study found that in the six months following the six-week ban, 33% fewer Texans obtained abortions in state or out of state.
The study also found that Texas residents who traveled out of state were more likely to have an abortion later in their pregnancy. This was due, in part, to the fact that neighboring states were unable to meet the increased demand.
Only 40% of the annual abortion volume in Texas was typically seen by Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma taken together.
Lead researcher Kari White stated, “It was not uncommon to hear that wait times at facilities in neighboring states were three or four weeks away before people could get an appointment.”Additionally, we were informed that this could be even longer in other facilities.
Now, Texas and three of those four neighboring states have joined Texas in making it illegal to have an abortion.The #WeCount study found that after Roe v. Wade was overturned, the number of abortions in eight southern states—Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas—went down by 96%.
According to White, this places many Texans in a vast abortion desert, with the impact being felt most strongly by those who are poor, have children already, or are more likely to die or be sickened by being pregnant, particularly Black Texans.
White, who is also on the steering committee for #WeCount, said, “People are going to still have unwanted pregnancies or need to get an abortion for medical reasons.”However, it will simply become more burdensome.So
me Texas residents who are unable to travel through multiple states to reach clinics in person will likely attempt to manage themselves by seeking medication that induces abortion outside of the health care system.Abigail Aiken, a researcher at UT-Austin, conducted a new study that found that demand for these medications increased after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
A day prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, Aid Access, a global telemedicine nonprofit that mails abortion-inducing medication, received approximately 83 requests.Requests increased to approximately 137 per day in May when a draft of the opinion was leaked.It increased to more than 200 per day after the decision.
Texas and other states with near-total abortion bans saw the greatest increase in demand.
