On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overruled Roe V. Wade as a result overturning 50 years of legal precedent. Just over a year since then, the topic is still one of immense controversy and political debate. A major argument in support of the Court’s decision was that this ruling would allow for the number of nationwide abortions to decrease.
However, recent findings and statistical evidence have shown the opposite to be true.
A Recap of Last Year’s Decision
As previously mentioned, the Supreme Court reversed Roe V. Wade in a historic decision — declaring that the right to abortion no longer exists after having done so for decades past. This has resulted in a divisive reaction from the American public as well as a more complicated healthcare landscape in the country in the past year.
Since this ruling, several states in the U.S. have taken on highly restrictive laws on abortion, with states like Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho and Oklahoma being the most restrictive. These states have mostly banned abortions completely, with little to no exceptions. Others like New York, California, Illinois, Minnesota and New Mexico allow for more freedom in reproductive health. However, Oregon’s state laws and policies are the most protective of abortion care in the United States.
Healthcare Professionals Feel Conflicted
Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, talked about the state of healthcare and patient care in states that have varying degrees of abortion bans. “Doctors and hospitals do not know how to operate, or they’re operating under a really dark cloud of suspicion and hostility,” she said in an interview.
Legislation and the language used therein are what seem to be confusing a large majority of general physicians, OBGYNs and patients alike. According to a national survey of OBGYNs’ experiences, 20% of working OBGYN professionals report they have personally felt constraints on their ability to provide care for miscarriages and other pregnancy-related medical emergencies since the decision was made. In states with stricter bans, a large majority of doctors say that their decision-making autonomy has become worse since the ruling. They also reportedly have been experiencing confusion in terms of what legal ramifications exist for certain decisions.
Abortion Rates … Increased?
Nationwide, there has been an unexpected turn of statistical events. In the United States, the number of abortions has increased across the country — however, they have decreased exponentially in states with strict bans. The overturning of Roe V. Wade as well as state-specific regulations and bans have not lowered the overall abortion rate, according to a new report from the Society of Family Planning.
Why was this? Logically, one would think that increasing restrictions across the nation would mean fewer abortions taking place, however, that has not been the case when looking at overall statistics. And what does this mean on a larger scale?
Implications of the Data
The states that had the largest increases in abortions were were Illinois (21,500), Florida (20,460), North Carolina (11,830), California (8,810) and New Mexico (8,640). States with the largest declines include Texas (36,970), Georgia (19,660), Tennessee (13,930), Louisiana (9,110) and Alabama (7,620). When comparing these to the severity of restrictions across these states, it can be noted that the states with the least restrictions have had the largest increase.
However, a large factor in this increment is the geographical location of these states. The study notes that the states with the highest increases were those that shared borders with states with the most restrictions. We can hypothesize that due to the state-by-state difference in abortion access, there has been an increase in travel to neighboring states to conduct the procedures. This highlights that restrictions are not going to be able to control the rate of abortions taking place in the United States in its current landscape.
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