Raped, pregnant and in an abortion ban state? Researchers gauge how often it happens

The scene at the U.S. Supreme Court on the day it overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Researchers estimate that 64,565 rape-caused pregnancies have occurred in states that banned abortion since then. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

As an abortion provider in Montana, Dr. Samuel Dickman has seen patients routinely who tell him they became pregnant after a rape. His sense was the patients who were telling him were only a fraction of the true number. "There are certainly far more survivors of rape who become pregnant as a result, who — for totally understandable reasons — don't want to disclose that fact to a medical provider that they just met."

Dickman used to live and practice in Texas, and he began to wonder about patients who became pregnant due to rape in states where abortion is no longer an option. (He is also the medical director of Planned Parenthood Montana and a plaintiff in several lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions in Montana.)