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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abortion in America: 3 years after Roe's repeal, in 7 charts
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued a bombshell ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of precedent that had protected abortion rights throughout the United States. 'The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion … and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,' Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. That decision marked a huge victory for the anti-abortion movement, which had worked for decades to reverse the 1973 ruling in Roe that had required all states to allow abortions at least up to the point of fetal viability — roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy. It also sparked a political and legislative frenzy as states and voters reckoned with having the power to fully regulate abortion on their own for the first time in half a century. Three years later, America is in a fundamentally different place than it was before the Dobbs decision. Beyond its direct impact on reproductive health care, the ruling also had major political implications across the country. Here are some of the things that have changed — and a few that surprisingly haven't — since Roe was repealed. The most obvious and immediate effect of Dobbs was the roll back of abortion rights in dozens of states. Thirteen states had 'trigger laws' in place that were designed to instantly impose strict new restrictions or outright bans the moment Roe was repealed. Some others had dormant anti-abortion measures still on the books that became active again once nationwide protections disappeared. Today, abortion is essentially banned, with limited exceptions, in 12 states. Another 10 states ban abortions earlier in pregnancy than the standard established under Roe. Laws in the remaining half of states either mirror Roe's fetal viability standard or have no gestational limits on abortions. We're only now beginning to understand the impact that these new bans have had. Somewhat unexpectedly, they don't appear to have reduced the number of abortions in the U.S. The best evidence we have suggests that the total has gone up since Roe was overturned. There were just over 1 million abortions in the U.S. last year, about 100,000 more than there were in 2020, according to estimates by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-reproductive rights research organization. That increase represents a break from a long-standing trend that had seen the total number of abortions per year cut nearly in half from their peak in the early 1990s. How can the implementation of strict bans in large swaths of the country not cause the number of abortions to fall? Part of the answer is that abortion access in some red states was quite limited even when Roe was in place. But the main reason is a massive surge in abortion-related travel out of highly-restrictive areas to states with more permissive laws. Last year, more than 155,000 patients crossed state lines in order to obtain an abortion, according to Guttmacher Institute estimates. That's nearly twice as many as in 2020. Roughly 70% of the abortions in New Mexico and Kansas last year were performed on out-of-state patients, mostly from Texas. There were 35,000 abortions performed on out-of-state patients in Illinois, which borders several states with strict bans. Two trends that were already in motion when the Dobbs decision came down may have also reduced the ruling's impact. The first is the growing importance of medications like mifepristone and misoprostol, which allow patients to have an abortion without undergoing a medical procedure. Medications had been an increasingly common alternative to traditional in-clinic abortions (alternatively known as procedural or surgical abortions) for years, but their use has accelerated even more since Roe was repealed. Last year, 63% of abortions were performed via medication, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The second trend is the telemedicine revolution that was spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic two years before Dobbs was decided. Like nearly all types of doctor's visits, the share of abortion-related appointments that happen virtually has skyrocketed over the past five years. By the end of 2024, a quarter of all abortions were provided by telehealth, according to the Society of Family Planning. Roe's repeal didn't just affect the total number of abortions, but its broader affects on health and fertility are still coming into focus. The limited data available does offer some hints. Research released earlier this year found that strict abortion bans do appear to have resulted in more than 20,000 more babies being born than would otherwise be expected in restrictive states, particularly among Black and Hispanic mothers and people with low incomes. But that same research found a troubling increase in infant mortality within those same groups. A separate study by the Gender Equity Policy Institute estimated that mothers in restrictive states are twice as likely to die due to pregnancy-related complications as those in more 'supportive' states. Dobbs was decided just four months before the 2022 midterm elections, instantly moving abortion up the list of most important issues in races across the country. Blowback over the ruling is credited with helping Democrats hold off a widely expected 'red wave' and maintain control of the Senate. With the status quo on abortion suddenly upended, states also had to decide what their own policies on the issue would be. That led to a wave of ballot initiatives that allowed voters, for the first time, to decide how accessible abortion should be in their states. Since 2022, there have been 14 separate state ballot measures to either protect or expand abortion access. Eleven were approved, including initiatives that repealed highly restrictive laws in Missouri and Ohio that went into effect when Roe was repealed. Several initiatives that would have rolled back abortion protections and granted lawmakers more power to restrict abortion have failed. It hasn't been a clean sweep for pro-abortion initiatives, however. Last year, voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota had a chance to significantly expand abortion rights in their states. All three measures came up short. The most glaring example of the limits of abortion as a political issue came in the 2024 presidential election, which saw Donald Trump win a second term even though his three Supreme Court picks provided the decisive votes to overturn Roe. The Dobbs decision clearly had an impact on American's views about abortion, but polls show that the shift has been relatively small. In a nation where elections are often decided by the slimmest of margins, that can matter a lot. But public opinion on abortion appears to have been deeply entrenched after decades of heated debate over the issue. Even after such a dramatic change in the nation's laws, polls only moved a few percentage points, leaving overall sentiment roughly where it has stood for 50 years. Three years is too short of a time period to fully understand the impact of something as monumental as Roe's repeal. Abortion opponents are continuing to push for even more restrictions, as reproductive rights supporters fight to make abortion more accessible. No doubt that the courts will have plenty of say in how those battles are decided.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
On Dobbs anniversary, Senate Democrats aim to restart abortion conversation
Just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Nancy Davis learned that her fetus had a fatal cranial condition. She sought an abortion in her home state of Louisiana, but a 'trigger law' took effect shortly after the June 2022 decision. The law banned nearly all abortions in the state, and doctors were unsure if Davis's case fell within its few exceptions, forcing her to travel to New York to have an abortion. Now, three years post-Roe, Davis worries for patients who may still face the kind of excruciating decisions about their pregnancies that she did. On Tuesday, she will help Senate Democrats as they try to bring abortion and reproductive health care back to the forefront on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. 'I know these women who are currently going through it need someone to say 'I see you,'' Davis told The Washington Post. ''I believe you.'' In a forum designed to resemble a congressional hearing at the Capitol, Davis will share her story with an audience of Senate Democrats and members of the press alongside other witnesses, including two abortion providers. They will speak about their experiences in the three years since the high court eliminated the nearly 50-year constitutional right to an abortion — part of an ongoing effort from some Democrats to keep steadfast attention on the issue. The event, known as a shadow hearing, allows for a public forum to be held without conducting an official Senate hearing, which would've required approval from Republican leaders who chair committees. The move comes at a time when abortion appears to have drifted away from where it once stood as a key political issue. Though President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken credit for appointing the justices who solidified the landmark Dobbs decision, he said on the campaign trail last year that he would veto a federal abortion ban and leave abortion law up to the states. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. When Roe fell in 2022, conservatives claimed it as a massive victory. For liberals, it served as a sign of the ground the GOP gained while the Democratic Party struggled to muster enough votes to pass national abortion legislation over the past decade. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), one of the four Democratic lawmakers leading the Dobbs anniversary messaging, said that since Trump took office, his administration has steadily launched smaller scale antiabortion efforts, which she said amount to a 'national abortion ban behind the scenes.' 'Because there's so much going on, and because it's little by little and piece by piece, women don't collectively see what is coming at them,' Murray told The Post. Among the efforts Murray referenced is the GOP's budget bill, which includes a provision that would halt Medicaid payments to abortion providers who received more than $1 million in federal reimbursements in 2024 — a measure that would mean funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, one of the biggest reproductive health care providers in the United States. Senate Republicans are racing to meet Trump's July 4 deadline to pass their version of the bill. Leading the Democratic messaging on this year's Dobbs anniversary alongside Murray are Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin) and Tina Smith (Minnesota), all of whom have been vocal about the need to protect abortion access and other reproductive health advocacy. Murray said they will highlight a medley of actions from the Trump administration related to reproductive health over the past six months — some of them undoing Biden-era efforts to protect abortion access. Within days of assuming the presidency, Trump pardoned 23 people who were convicted of blocking access to reproductive health clinics, many of them during the Biden administration for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or Face Act. This month, Republicans prepared a bill that if passed would repeal the Face Act altogether. Also in January, Trump overturned two executive orders signed by President Joe Biden that aimed to expand access to reproductive care. And in early June, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rescinded Biden-era guidance that required hospitals to provide emergency abortions when needed to stabilize patients, regardless of the state where they were receiving treatment. For Davis, who still lives in Louisiana and has become a reproductive health advocate, the ongoing changes have made her afraid that more patients will be unable to receive the care they choose in a timely manner. It's a fear that's been on her mind constantly, she said, especially as a mother to three girls, one of whom was born in the time since her 2022 nonviable pregnancy. Sharing her story again this week, Davis said, 'gives us a chance to stand up before any more harm is done.' 'For me, it's about protecting the next woman, the next family, the next mother,' she said.
CNN
18-06-2025
- Health
- CNN
British lawmakers vote to decriminalize abortion for pregnant women while America cracks down
British lawmakers voted Tuesday to decriminalize abortion for the pregnant woman – in striking contrast to the crackdown on reproductive rights in the United States. Lawmakers voted by an overwhelming majority to invalidate Victorian-era legislation that makes it possible to prosecute a woman for ending her pregnancy in England and Wales, though medical professionals who help terminate a pregnancy beyond certain limits will still be breaking the law. Currently, abortion beyond the first 24 weeks of pregnancy is illegal in those two parts of the United Kingdom. Beyond that time limit, it is permitted in certain circumstances, such as when the mother's life is at risk. While abortions are common in England and Wales, women who terminate their pregnancy outside of existing restrictions face the threat of criminal investigation, arrest, prosecution and even imprisonment. Tuesday's vote – which amends a draft policing and crime law – seeks to remove those threats. The amended bill needs to pass through both chambers of the UK parliament before it can become law. The vast majority of Britons believe women should have the right to an abortion, according to YouGov surveys stretching back to 2019. The latest poll, conducted in April, showed that 88% of respondents supported that right. Britain's vote comes as its ally across the Atlantic has dramatically restricted abortion rights. Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 – which had enshrined abortion as a constitutional right – many US states have introduced severe restrictions or outright bans on the practice. The changes have completely upended the landscape of reproductive health and choice in America. Louise McCudden, UK head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, a charity providing abortions, thinks there is a connection between Tuesday's vote and a 'hostile climate' toward abortion rights in the UK driven by the changes in the US. McCudden told CNN there had been an 'increase in activity from anti-choice groups outside (MSI) clinics' that feel 'emboldened' by the crackdown on abortion rights across the pond. 'On the rare occasions when you do see women who are suspected of ending a pregnancy over 24 weeks, they are invariably in extremely vulnerable situations,' she also said, noting that the women who had been investigated in the UK included domestic abuse survivors, potential trafficking survivors and women who'd had miscarriages and stillbirths. However, the UK's Society for the Protection of Unborn Children strongly condemned Tuesday's vote. 'If this clause becomes law, a woman who aborts her baby at any point in pregnancy, even moments before birth, would not be committing a criminal offense,' Alithea Williams, the society's public policy manager, said in a statement Tuesday. 'Now, even the very limited protection afforded by the law is being stripped away,' she added. CNN's Kara Fox contributed reporting.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Georgia abortion law: Brain-dead woman gives birth in US; life support continued due to strict legal rules
This is a representative AI image (TIL Denny) In a rare case, a brain-dead woman in Georgia gave birth to a premature baby boy through a C-section while being kept on life support, her family said. Doctors kept the mother, Adriana Smith, on life support in line with the US state of Georgia's abortion laws. The baby, named Chance, was born on Friday and is currently being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit. He weighed 1lb 13oz (0.8kg) at birth, the woman's mother, April Newkirk told local TV station 11 Alive. "He's expected to be OK," Smith's mother told the outlet. "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him," she added. Newkirk said her daughter, would be taken off life support on Tuesday (local time). "It's hard to process," she said. "I'm her mother. I shouldn't be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me," she added. Earlier in February, Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old nurse visited a hospital with severe headaches but was given medication and sent home, according to Newkirk. "They gave her some medication, but they didn't do any tests. No CT scan," Newkirk told 11Alive in May. "If they had done that or kept her overnight, they would have caught it. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Here's The Price for a 1-Day Walk-in Shower In 2025 Homebuddy Learn More Undo It could have been prevented," she added. The next day, Smith woke up gasping for air. She was rushed to Emory University Hospital, where doctors found blood clots in her brain and declared her brain-dead. At the time, Smith was over three months away from her due date. However, her family said doctors told them they could not take her off life support or remove the breathing equipment due to Georgia's strict abortion law, which bans termination once fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy. Newkirk said her grandson may face serious health issues including possible blindness and difficulty walking or survival challenges due to her daughter's health complications, BBC reported. She had earlier also expressed frustration that the decision to continue life support wasn't left to the family. "This decision should've been left to us. Now we're left wondering what kind of life he'll have — and we're going to be the ones raising him," she had earlier said. What is Georgia's Heartbeat Bill? Georgia's Heartbeat Bill, passed in 2019 and enforced since July 2022 bans abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks gestation. The legislation became effective after the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which had previously guaranteed women's constitutional right to abortion.
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Why it's never been more important to decriminalise abortion
When I scrambled out of my bathroom on all fours after an abortion in January 2022, I was paralysed by the pain. Fast forward to five months later and again I found myself frozen with pain in the same flat in south London. However, this time round the anguish wasn't physical; instead, it was provoked by news the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v Wade – the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide in the US in 1973 – and millions of women had lost their legal right to have a pregnancy terminated. Life has changed immeasurably in America since this seismic decision. Yet the shift has invariably had an impact across the pond, too; with anti-abortion ideologues growing further emboldened and better funded here in Britain. That's why it's never been more important to decriminalise abortion – now. And now, Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Tonia Antoniazzi have both tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill which would seek to decriminalise pregnancy terminations without 'changing anything about provision of abortion care'. It comes after the UK's largest abortion services estimated that police have investigated at least 100 women for having an abortion in the last five years. Amendment NC1 has been backed by 177 cross-party MPs, as well as 50 leading medical bodies, women's rights groups and healthcare providers, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Medical Association. MPs will be voting on it today. These calls are by no means new. Rather, abortion providers, charities, medical bodies, activists and MPs have spent years calling for abortion law to be disentangled from criminal law and overseen in the same way that other medical practices are. But their demands have often fallen on deaf ears for a whole range of reasons. One is the fact that many Britons are oblivious that abortion care remains firmly ensconced in criminal law. For those who need a refresher on how abortion law works here: pregnancy terminations can be legally carried out within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy in England, Scotland and Wales – but only if the abortion is approved by two doctors, with the health professionals agreeing that continuing with the pregnancy would be riskier for the physical or mental health of the woman than having an abortion. If a medical professional delivers an abortion outside of the terms of the 1967 act, they are at risk of being prosecuted. Legislation passed in 1861 means any woman who ends a pregnancy without getting legal permission from two doctors can technically face up to life imprisonment – fortunately, this does not currently happen in reality. Abortions after the 24-week mark can only be legally performed in very restricted situations, such as if the mother's life is in danger, or the child will have a severe disability. So, why are so many people so keen to reform abortion law? Well, for starters, it is hardly surprising there is enthusiasm to change legislation which dates back to a time when young boys risked their lives as chimney sweeps – and public executions were legal. Additionally, the desire for reform arises from the recognition that those who access abortions outside regulated provision or past the cut-off point are (for the most part) highly vulnerable. As such, they need support and care, not the psychological pressure and impending doom of a police investigation hanging over them; or worse still, being locked up in a prison system riddled with human rights abuses. 'Our lawmakers have a choice to make,' Sarah Salkeld, deputy medical director at leading abortion provider, MSI Reproductive Choices, tells The Independent. 'Do they want to be part of the 'green wave', moving gender equality forward? Or do they want to see prosecutions of vulnerable women on their watch? At a time when reproductive rights are facing rollbacks in many countries, and with the anti-rights movement feeling emboldened by the reversal of Roe v Wade in the United States, it could not be more important that here in the UK, elected lawmakers stand up for women and support everyone to get the medical care they need safely, confidentially and free from the threat of invasive investigation and prosecution.' She points out that women who have illegal abortions sometimes have significant mental health problems, or may be domestic abuse victims, or teenagers whose parents are opposed to abortions. 'I don't see how it would be in anyone's interest to prosecute somebody who has gone to such desperate measures,' Ms Salkeld says. 'It just doesn't feel right and it doesn't support someone who is clearly in a very difficult position and we are talking very small numbers of people here who would potentially be in that position.' For this reason and more, it is high time we decriminalise abortion. With the far right growing around the world and its war on reproductive rights ramping up, reform feels especially urgent. MPs were set to debate similar amendments around this time last year but ongoing campaigning efforts were abruptly cut short when a snap election was called and parliament was dissolved to make way for this. When I think back to my own nightmare experience of having an abortion – something I wrote about in a first-person story for The Independent – I am reminded of the fear I felt contending with overwhelmed abortion providers. In the end, overstretched services meant I was left near the 10-week cut-off point for a medical abortion, which involves taking pills. If I had gone past this deadline, I would have been forced to have a surgical abortion. While all abortions are safe, surgical ones are riskier and more of an ordeal as they involve going to hospital for a procedure. For some, an abortion will be the most traumatic experience of their lives. For others, it is not. But the important thing to bear in mind is the fact your experience of a termination is not just dictated by your personal feelings or physical health. On the contrary, external factors can transform a straightforward procedure you quickly recover from into a living nightmare that needlessly drags on and on. Sadly, it is the latter that women so often encounter when they are pulled into the criminal justice system after having an abortion. We finally have the chance to change that – and improve women's lives.
