At least 25,000 fewer abortions performed in months following Roe reversal: report
An abortion advocacy group reports that there were at least 25,000 fewer abortions conducted in the United States in the months following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, an updated figure that puzzles some pro-life advocates.
#WeCount, a project of the Society of Family Planning that receives monthly abortion data from abortion facilities nationwide, released data last month, finding that from July 2022 (the month after the ruling) to March 2023, there were 25,640 fewer abortions nationwide.
#WeCount compared its recent findings to the number of abortions performed between April and May 2022 before the high court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which reversed the 1973 Roe decision.
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The #WeCount researchers developed a database of all clinics, private medical offices, hospitals and telehealth providers in the country and asked them to share their monthly abortion counts.
By the researchers' admission, their analysis was unable to assess the number of abortions performed outside of a formal setting, such as the use of chemical abortion pills provided by Aid Access. The European organization, founded by Dutch physician Rebecca Gompers in 2018, ships abortion pills to the U.S., even to areas that have strict abortion laws.
Women typically obtain the abortion pill through Aid Access after visiting the group's website and answering a series of questions, including how far along they are in pregnancy. The medical team then sends a prescription for the abortion pill to the pharmacy.
Michael J. New, an assistant professor of social research at the Catholic University of America and associate scholar at the pro-life research group Charlotte Lozier Institute, wonders why #WeCount's 25,000 tally was much lower than the estimate it produced in April that 32,260 fewer abortions were performed from July to December 2022, a shorter timespan.
"These new June 2023 estimates were puzzling," New told The Christian Post in an email. "Even though more time had passed and more months were included #WeCount estimated a *smaller* abortion decline in June 2023 than in April 2023."
After sifting through the data, New believes there are two reasons #WeCount estimated a smaller abortion decline.
"#WeCount's lowered their pre-Dobbs abortion estimates for April 2022 and May 2022. This makes the post-Dobbs decline less dramatic," New stated.
"#WeCount estimated a very large number of abortions took place in March 2023. They estimated that more abortions were performed in March 2023 than in the pre-Dobbs months of April 2022 and May 2022. Since approximately 13 states were protecting preborn children in March 2023 — I see no reason for this abortion increase."
#WeCount's data found that 90,810 abortions occurred in March 2023, which he noted is 9,000 more abortions than the number performed in either April 2022 or May 2022, a period before the Dobbs ruling.
The irregularities in the data cause New "to view the #WeCount figures with skepticism."
"Some pro-life groups are (reasonably) skeptical of the revised #WeCount estimates," he told CP. "Instead of citing a specific figure, they have said that pro-life laws enacted after Dobbs have saved tens of thousands of lives."
In an opinion piece published by National Review, New called it "heartening" that a group in favor of abortion had to acknowledge "that strong, pro-life laws are savings tens of thousands of lives."
"In the aftermath of Dobbs, pro-lifers still face numerous political and policy challenges. However, we were right to celebrate [Roe's first anniversary]," New told CP.
"Just one year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, 14 states already have laws in effect protecting all preborn children," he continued. "Additionally, four other states protect preborn children after a certain point in gestation. More importantly, a growing body of data show that these legislative efforts are literally saving thousands of lives."
New urges people to wait for abortion data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute to "have a better sense of the incidence of abortion in the United States post-Dobbs."
New cited his November 2022 Charlotte Lozier Institute analysis of birth data in Texas after the state enacted a six-week abortion ban in September 2021. The unborn child's heartbeat typically becomes detectable during the sixth week of pregnancy.
According to New's research, the Texas Heartbeat Act was preventing approximately 1,000 abortions from happening in the state every month. New also highlighted data from the CDC that found Texas experienced the largest birthrate increase in the country in 2022, which increased by 4.7%.
Another study released last week by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the Heartbeat Act was associated with almost 10,000 additional live births in the state between April and December 2022.
"Their findings were broadly similar to my November 2022 Lozier study," New said. "They found between April 2022 and December 2022, there were over 9,800 more births in Texas. Again, the Texas Heartbeat Act was saving more than 1,000 lives every month."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
