The number of abortion procedures increased in the United States last year, even after states imposed bans on abortion following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, as indicated by a new study.
Research from the Guttmacher Institute suggests that approximately 1,026,690 abortions were reported in the formal healthcare system in 2023. The findings were published on Tuesday.This marks the highest number recorded in the United States in more than ten years.
Researchers discovered that this is equivalent to around 15.7 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, which is a 10 percent increase from 2020.
2023 was the first complete calendar year since the Supreme Court invalidated Roe v. Wade, which eliminated the 1973 precedent that allowed for the constitutional right to abortion.
Following this development, the nation’s highest court granted states the authority to restrict or prohibit abortion procedures. Subsequently, several Republican-led states passed laws limiting or banning residents' access to abortion.
The Guttmacher Institute indicated that a total of 14 states nationwide now have near-total abortion bans, and several other states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah, have enacted laws to restrict abortion access based on the pregnancy term.
According to the study, almost every state without a complete abortion ban saw an average increase of 25 percent in the number of procedures from 2020. States bordering those with bans experienced the most significant increase, at 37 percent, from 2020 to 2023.
The Guttmacher Institute noted that medication abortions made up 63 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2023, which is up from 53 percent in 2020. While access to medication abortions has improved, Rachel Jones, principal research scientist at Guttmacher, emphasized that this does not necessarily reflect the preference of patients.
Jones stated in a release on Monday that while improved access to medication abortion is a positive development, it is not a solution for all issues. "As abortion restrictions become more widespread post-\Dobbs, medication abortion may be the most viable or only option for some people, even if they would have preferred in-person procedural care.
“Every individual deserves access to abortion care according to their own terms and needs, whether that care is provided through telemedicine, an in-person visit, or outside the formal healthcare system,” she added.
Researchers utilized national and state-level abortion data from 2023 and acknowledged that their annual estimates are likely to be an undercount, as they only include abortions reported in the formal U.S. healthcare system.
The estimates are formulated using a statistical model that combines data from provider samples with historical information on the caseload of every U.S. provider, according to Guttmacher.
Previous studies have produced similar results following the Dobbs ruling. An analysis released in fall 2023 by the Society of Family Planning’s WeCount project discovered a slight increase in clinician-provided abortions nationwide following the Supreme Court ruling, although abortions decreased significantly in states with abortion bans. Abortion numbers increased in the U.S. last year, despite state bans on abortion enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as per a new study. Around 1,026,690 abortions were documented in the official healthcare system in 2023, based on research from the Guttmacher Institute released on Tuesday. This is the highest…
