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How states are dealing with abortion a year after Roe v. Wade was struck down

June 24, 2023

A year without Roe v. Wade

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, opening the door for states to ban abortion outright. In the year since the decision, 14 states have made abortion illegal while 11 have expanded access.

Terminology differs greatly depending on where one stands on the issue of abortion.

You can find the National Right to Life Committee’s report on the state of abortion in the U.S. here.

You can find the Center for Reproductive Rights report on abortion laws by state here.

Both use data from the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute (which was originally founded as a special research arm of Planned Parenthood) and considered more complete and reliable. You can find the Guttmacher Institute here.

Change in amount by state

#wecount is a national abortion reporting effort that aims to capture the shifts in abortion access by state following the June 24, 2022, Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision.

Since the Dobbs decision, compared to the average monthly number of abortions observed in the pre-Dobbs period of April and May 2022, there were 25,640 cumulative fewer abortions from July 2022 to March.

The National Right to Life Committee estimates there have been more than 64 million abortions in the U.S. since 1973.

In the two months before Dobbs, the average monthly number of abortions provided by clinicians in the U.S. was 81,730.

Chemical abortion percentage: Both Guttmacher Institute and the CDC stats are about 53%.

The Guttmacher Institute assessed a range of policies related to abortion in every state and selected approximately 20 types of abortion restrictions — including gestational age bans, waiting periods, insurance coverage bans and medication abortion restrictions — and approximately 10 protective policies, including state constitutional protections, abortion funding, insurance coverage for abortion and protections for patients and clinic staff. States were then assigned to one of seven categories based on the policies currently in effect and the cumulative impact of those policies on abortion rights and access.

Even in some states where it’s banned, there are exceptions in order to prevent health risks to the mother. A few examples:Texas, Alabama Mississippi and Louisiana: Abortion is banned except in the case of a life-threatening condition caused by the pregnancy.Oklahoma and Idaho: Abortion banned except when necessary to preserve the life of the woman or if “the pregnancy is the result of rape, sexual assault, or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.”

You can find each state’s rules regarding abortion on the Guttmacher Institute’s site here.

The worst breach of confidentiality in the Supreme Court’s history became public on May 2, 2022, when Politico published a draft opinion reversing the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. Demonstrations were in U.S. streets the next day. On June 24, the ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was official.

Anti-abortion supporters applauded the ruling while California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the governors of Oregon and Washington launched a new multistate commitment to defend access to reproductive health care and protect patients and providers.

Gov. Newsom signed a $200 million Reproductive Health Package in September. The legislation allows state funding to create a state website, payment of travel costs, cover uninsured care, support providers, bolster security and more.

The California Legislature introduced a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. Voters passed the bill 66.8% in favor to 33.1% opposed in November.

California law allows abortions before the fetus is viable, generally about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Abortions also can be performed after viability, but only if a doctor determines a pregnant person’s life or health is in danger.

Similar to California, Oregon allows state Medicaid funds to cover abortions and others besides physicians can do the procedure. The state of Oregon has no restriction on gestational age.

Sources: The Guttmacher Institute, The National Right to Life Committee,The Centers for Reproductive Rights, Society for Family Planning, The Associated Press, National Library of Medicine

Orange County Register

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How states are dealing with abortion a year after Roe v. Wade was struck down

A year without Roe v. Wade

Change in amount by state

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