Mail-order pills and trips out of state are helping Texas women who want to terminate a pregnancy but can't under the state's new abortion restrictions. The controversial Texas law bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which means just a few weeks after conception and before many women may know they're pregnant. Researchers found that in the first month after the law was passed, abortions in Texas were down 49.8 percent from the same month the previous year.
But while the law (SB 8) halved the number of abortions obtained at abortion clinics in Texas, it did not so dramatically curb the number of abortions obtained by Texans. Two new studies suggest the drop in abortions obtained by Texas women has actually been much lower—closer to 10 percent, according to a New York Times analysis. That's because Texans seeking abortions still found other ways to obtain the procedure after six weeks.
