SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – New data released a month after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion suggested the court could overturn Roe v. Wade shows that abortions across the country over the last four years, reversing a decadeslong decline.
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The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization, published its Abortion Provider Census on Wednesday, showing there were 8% more abortions in the U.S. in 2020 than in 2017. It was the most substantial increase in 30 years, and researchers said it shows the need for the procedure is growing.
"An increase in abortion numbers is a positive development if it means people are getting the health care they want and need," Rachel Jones, Jesse Philbin, Marielle Kirstein, Elizabeth Nash and Kimberley Lufkin wrote in Wednesday's report. "Rather than focusing on reducing abortion, policies should instead center the needs of people and protect their right to bodily autonomy."
Researchers said the data represents nearly 1,700 facilities providing abortions across the country in 2019 or 2020, with 69% of the data provided by facilities or state health departments. The remaining 31% was estimated. According to the authors, "a fuller summary of the data" will be published later this year in a peer-reviewed journal article.
A higher percentage of pregnancies (20.6%) ended in an abortion in 2020 than in 2017 (18.4%), and births also declined by 6% during that time.
The authors attributed the national increase to a number of factors, many of which varied from state to state. They pointed to states expanding Medicaid coverage of abortion care, and the Trump administration cutting access to free or low-cost contraceptive care for people in some states potentially resulting in more unplanned pregnancies, among other reasons.
While the researches noted that 25 states passed or enacted 168 abortion bans during that time, the bans' "practical effect" on abortions increasing was "likely reduced" because clinics there had "already been operating in hostile environments."
The Guttmacher Institute published the data as the country awaits a Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health. A draft majority opinion authored by Republican-appointed Justice Samuel Alito leaked last month, which held that the majority would overrule Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions establishing abortion rights. The court is yet to release its final decision.
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