The United States saw 32,000 fewer abortions in the six months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, according to a report.
The Society of Family Planning, a left-wing non-profit that “believe[s] in just and equitable abortion and contraception informed by science,” published its #WeCount report on Tuesday. The group describes the #WeCount report as a “national abortion reporting effort that aims to capture the shifts in abortion access by state” following the Dobbs decision.
The study was accomplished by collecting data from abortion providers nationwide, including clinics, private medical offices, hospitals, and virtual clinics. More than 80 percent of known providers responded, according to the organization. Abortions that occurred outside of the healthcare system or were self-managed were not included in the analysis.
The report found that there was an average of 5,377 fewer abortions in the U.S. each month in the six months following the Dobbs decision. The national abortion rate decreased from 13.2 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in the month of April to 12.3 per 1,000 women in that same time span, according to the report.
Watch: MSNBC’s Reid on Abortion Restrictions: ‘Can’t Imagine Anything Closer to Slavery’ — This Is The Handmaid’s Tale
States with strong pro-life laws protecting unborn babies “witnessed a cumulative total of 43,410 fewer people [women] who had abortions.”
“The 13 states with abortion bans in place had a monthly average of 7,235 fewer abortions after the Dobbs decision as compared to pre-Dobbs. While the telehealth services expanded in states where abortion was permitted, that number dropped to <10 by December in states with abortion bans,” according to the report.
The organization found that while overall abortions decreased, the number of abortions provided by virtual clinic telehealth providers increased from 3,610 in April 2022 (four percent of all abortions) to 8,540 in December (11 percent of all abortions).
“This change represents an increase of 137 percent in the number of abortions provided from virtual-only services, comparing April and December 2022,” the report states. “Telehealth abortions provided by virtual clinics have increased every month since April 2022 and by December, represent 9 percent of all abortions across the post Dobbs six months, indicating that a greater percentage of U.S. abortions are taking place by way of virtual-only clinics than before the Dobbs decision.”
States that permitted abortion following the Dobbs decision saw a cumulative total of 11,150 more abortions.
“States where abortion was permitted offered a monthly average of 1,858 more abortions after the Dobbs decision. Virtual clinics provided 3,590 telehealth abortions in states where abortion was permitted, and this increased to 8,540 by December,” the report states.
Florida (7,190 more abortions), Illinois (6,840 more abortions), North Carolina (4,730 more abortions), Colorado (2,580 more abortions), and Michigan (2,490 more abortions) saw the largest increases in the total number of abortions in the six months after the Dobbs decision.
“Some states that had restrictions in place but were closer in distance to states that banned abortion also experienced surges in number of abortions provided by a clinician,” the report noted.
Related: Planned Parenthood CEO McGill Johnson: Dobbs Decision ‘Will Ensure that People Will Be Forced into Pregnancy’
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