Abortions After Dobbs – The New York Times

After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year, it looked like the number of abortions would soon plummet across the country. But new estimates suggest that has not happened. The number of legal abortions has held steady, if not increased, nationwide since 2020, our colleagues Amy Schoenfeld Walker and Allison McCann reported today.

How is that possible? New data from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit specializing in reproductive health, implies that more people are traveling across state lines or using telemedicine to get abortions, including through the use of abortion pills. The increase in use of those options has offset the decrease in abortions resulting from new state bans, Amy and Allison found.

This map tells the story. As you can see, states bordering those with bans largely saw increases in the number of abortions in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2020. In Illinois, for example, estimated abortions rose 69 percent.

If anything, Guttmacher’s data underestimates the number of abortions. It does not count abortions obtained outside the formal health care system, including those done with pills acquired through community support networks or websites based outside the U.S. And it does not include counts from states with bans, though there are few or no reported abortions there.

Altogether, the data suggests that there are the same number of abortions, or more, occurring in the U.S. now than there were before the Supreme Court’s ruling last year in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

For abortion rights advocates, this is a mixed outcome. Not everyone can afford to travel across state lines or access telemedicine, so it’s likely that some people who want to get an abortion still cannot do so. And while the overall count is up, abortions were rising before the Supreme Court’s decision. “They may have continued to rise even more steeply than observed if it weren’t for the bans,” Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College, told Amy and Allison.

What do the data say about the impact of the Dobbs decision? Guttmacher and Myers caution that it is too soon to draw definitive conclusions, noting the possibility of future restrictions. But the immediate impact on the overall number of abortions has been smaller than many abortion rights advocates feared. And for anti-abortion groups, the data could be an argument for further limits to access, including a nationwide ban.

Human-size hamster wheel: A man tried to roll across the Atlantic. He was stopped by the Coast Guard.

Burning Man: Festival cleanup is a big job — especially when the trash is stuck in hardened mud.

The first lady of fitness: At 97, Elaine LaLanne is still shaping the industry.

In the beginning: A lonely old building on a New Jersey hill, where we first heard the hum of the Big Bang.

Lives Lived: Ferid Murad’s research into nitric oxide’s effects on the body advanced the treatment of hypertension and erectile dysfunction, earning him a Nobel Prize. He died at 86.

SPORTS NEWS

Madison Keys: The American won her U.S. Open match in straight sets to reach the semifinal.

N.F.L.: The season opens tonight with a game between the Lions and the Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions.

ARTS AND IDEAS

A classic rock return: The Rolling Stones announced a new album yesterday, their first record of new material in 18 years. “Hackney Diamonds,” named after a neighborhood in London and slang for the shards of glass left after a break-in, will be released Oct. 20. It’s also the band’s first album since the death of its longtime drummer, Charlie Watts, in 2021.

So far, the British press has offered positive reviews: The first taste of the album is an “absolute blast,” The Telegraph wrote. “It’s the best Rolling Stones album since 1978,” The Times of London declared.

More on culture

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …