Advocates on both sides of the abortion divide in the United States demonstrated after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.Credit: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty
By Mariana Lenharo, nature, June 23, 2023
The US Supreme Court’s decision one year ago to revoke the right to an abortion has begun to take a toll on women’s health in the United States, say researchers who have been monitoring the effects of the ruling. Although it is too soon to measure the full impact, a grim picture has begun to emerge.
After the court issued its decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling that had protected abortion access in the United States for decades, some states banned abortion. Surveys now indicate that people who experience pregnancy complications in these states have been put in life-threatening situations because physicians couldn’t treat them properly. A study by the Society of Family Planning, an organization focused on abortion and contraception research based in Denver, Colorado, also estimates that in states with bans, such as Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, the average number of abortions has decreased drastically. But they have increased nearly as much in nearby states, such as Kansas, where abortion is allowed, because people travel there to seek care (see ‘A post-Roe landscape’).
This balancing effect means that, overall, the average number of abortions per month in the United States has decreased by about 3%. That might seem like a small reduction, says Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College in Vermont who has been tracking abortion access. But “what that means is that somewhere between one-fifth and one-quarter of people who are trying to get out of the ‘ban states’ to obtain an abortion aren’t making it out”, and are instead continuing with unwanted pregnancies, she says.
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