Since the Supreme Court repudiated a constitutional right to abortion in June, 22 states have enacted or begun to enforce new limits on the procedure, including 13 strict bans. New research suggests that the consequences so far have been less dramatic than abortion-rights activists may have feared and anti-abortion activists may have hoped, demonstrating the obstacles facing legislators who are taking advantage of the authority that the court restored.
The Society of Family Planning recently estimated that U.S. clinicians performed 6% fewer abortions in August than they did in April, before the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That tally almost certainly exaggerates the impact of Dobbs because it does not take into account seasonal variation or drug-induced abortions that women performed on their own.
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