Babies Unprotected
An Analysis of Self-Induced Abortion Numbers in States with “Bans”
Last updated October 16, 2024, see previous report here
REPORT SUMMARY
See full report and download the print version below.
In 2024, Babies continue to die in states that claim to have banned abortion. Major media outlets report that 14 states have completely banned abortion and many Pro-Life sources go even further and make the claim that abortion in these states has dropped to zero or that they are now “abortion-free.”
While Pro-Life Americans largely believe the reports that abortion has been ended in many Pro-Life states, data indicates that abortions of babies from these states have gone up not down since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Each year, tens of thousands of women inside states with “bans” are ordering abortion pills online and performing their own abortions at home.
Babies Unprotected offers analysis of the available data on the numbers of Self-Induced Abortions occurring in states with “bans”, and the data is clear. Because no states’ laws are considered to prohibit Self-Induced Abortion, babies in all 50 states remain essentially unprotected from abortion.
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Glossary of Terms
Abortion is purportedly banned in 14 states today, yet abortion numbers in these states remain high and may even be going up.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs to overrule Roe v. Wade, abortion laws have dramatically shifted in Republican-controlled states. Some had pre-Roe laws still on the books. Many have had General Bans or 6-Week Bans go into effect. In some other states, courts are blocking restrictions.
Are even the strongest of these Pro-Life laws saving babies?
The first Babies Unprotected report was published in January 2024. It looked at the 12 states where General Bans had gone into effect soon after the Dobbs decision and reported on the rapid rise in Self-Managed Abortions in those states.[1]
Since then, laws have continued to shift and more data has become available. This report examines data on states that had Third-Party Bans in effect during January through March of 2024. At that time, 14 states had General Bans (Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia) and 2 states had 6-Week Bans (Georgia and South Carolina) in effect.
Major media outlets continue to report that abortion has been banned in at least 14 states.[2] Many Pro-Life sources go even further and rely on officially reported state abortion numbers to make the claim that abortions in these states have dropped near or to zero or that these states are now “abortion-free.”[3]
What headlines like these do not account for is the fact that, for all practical purposes, Self-Induced Abortion remains legal for women in all 50 states, including those that claim to have banned abortion.[4]
Additionally, increasing numbers of women from states with Third-Party Bans are traveling out-of-state to procure abortions in states where clinics are still legally operating.
This means that state-reported abortion numbers in states with Third-Party Bans have become virtually meaningless to the question of how many babies have been saved by Pro-Life laws.
While Clinician-Provided Abortions are reported to state or federal agencies in states that report abortion numbers, it often takes years for this data to be officially published. Additionally, Self-Managed Abortions are not reported to state or federal agencies at all.
While this makes it more challenging to map the realities of post-Roe abortion numbers, data from other sources have been published.
Focus of this report
The focus of this report is to review the available data on the number of Self-Induced Abortions being performed inside states where abortion is supposedly banned and to compare overall abortion numbers before and after Pro-Life “bans” went into effect. ■
Immediately After Dobbs: Self-Managed Abortion in States with Third-Party Bans (July - August 2022)
Immediately following the Dobbs decision, interest in Self-Managed Abortion promptly skyrocketed in states where Third-Party Bans went into effect. This section analyzes numbers for the states that had General Bans or 6-Week Bans in place at the beginning of 2024 (Jan.–Mar.).
A study published in November 2022 in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported on these rapidly increasing numbers by examining data provided by Aid Access, the single largest provider of Self-Managed Abortion pills.[5] Among other things, the study reported on the number of requests Aid Access received for Self-Managed Abortion pills in July and August 2022, the two months immediately succeeding the June 24, 2022 Dobbs decision.
The study showed a sharp increase in requests for abortion pills during that time.
Per 100,000 female residents aged 15-44,[6] Aid Access reported requests per week were 14.9 for Louisiana, 7.8 for Mississippi, 7.1 for Arkansas, 6.2 for Alabama, 6.0 for Oklahoma, and approximately 4.1 for Georgia, 5.4 for Idaho, 3.2 for Indiana, 4.1 for Kentucky, 2.6 for Missouri, 2.4 for North Dakota, 3.3 for South Carolina, 3.1 for South Dakota, 4.6 for Tennessee, 5.5 for Texas, and 3.9 for West Virginia.
FIGURE A
Factoring in the population of female residents aged 15-44, this amounts to the following (rounded to the nearest whole number): Alabama (61/wk), Arkansas (42/wk), Idaho (21/wk), Indiana (43/wk), Kentucky (35/wk), Louisiana (136/wk), Mississippi (45/wk), Missouri (31/wk), North Dakota (4/wk), Oklahoma (48/wk), South Dakota (5/wk), Tennessee (64/wk), Texas (346/wk), West Virginia (33/wk), Georgia (92/wk), and South Carolina (34/wk). Therefore, in total during this period, Aid Access reported receiving over 1,040 requests per week from these 16 states with Third-Party Bans.
The whole picture
Because these numbers only reflect requests, and because they are from only one Self-Managed Abortion pill provider, they do not provide the full picture of the number of completed Self-Managed Abortions. However, a more complete picture may be derived by utilizing other sources.
In an interview with the New York Times, Professor Abigail Aiken, lead researcher for the study, explained that her research on Self-Managed Abortion prior to Dobbs indicated that roughly 60 percent of initial requests to Aid Access ultimately resulted in shipment of pills.[7]
While Aid Access is the largest supplier of abortion pills for Self-Managed Abortion in the U.S., they are not the only supplier. The New York Times estimated that, for July through December 2022, Aid Access supplied 46 percent of the U.S. market for Self-Managed Abortion pills, while community network Las Libres and a variety of online sellers provided the rest.[8]
In a study published in February 2022[9] and another published in March 2024,[10] Aiken and others reported that 88 percent of women who received shipments of pills from Aid Access actually took them to complete an abortion. Aiken has since stated that this rate could now be even higher because women have fewer options.[11] Additionally, the 2024 study indicates that women who acquired pills from sources like Las Libres may have a completion rate as high as 98.5 percent.[12] Although these sources appear to indicate that the rate is likely higher, the calculations in this paper rely on the more conservative finding that 88 percent of Self-Managed Abortion pills shipped are taken to complete an abortion.
Based on the foregoing numbers and rates, the total number of Self-Managed Abortions can be projected for these 16 states with Third-Party Bans over a twelve month period that began in July 2022, as seen in Figure A. ■
ADVANCE PROVISION OF SELF-MANAGED ABORTION
The numbers discussed in this paper do not include requests made “for advance provision of medications before pregnancy occurred” (i.e. Self-Managed Abortion pills to women who were not yet pregnant), which Aid Access offered.
According to research published on January 2, 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, between September 2021 and April 2023 Aid Access received 48,404 requests for advance provision of Self-Managed Abortion pills, with the vast majority of those being after May 1, 2022.[13] However, since the research does not indicate what percentage of these requests resulted in completed abortions, any abortions resulting from advance provision of Self-Managed Abortion pills are not included in the numbers in this report. Accordingly, the numbers discussed in this report reflect only requests made by women who indicated that they were pregnant. ■
18-Months After Dobbs: Self-Induced Abortion Numbers in States with Third-Party Bans (January–March 2024)
While Self-Managed Abortions remain complicated to count, news reports indicate that in 2023 the numbers of pills being shipped into states with Third-Party Bans like Idaho remained high.[14] Additionally, developments in abortion provision since the Dobbs decision have provided new data to consider.
In response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, some states instituted shield laws to protect abortion providers in their state from criminal liability when they provide abortions to residents of states where Clinician-Provided Abortions are illegal.
According to an August 2024 report by the Society of Family Planning,[15] the number of Telehealth Abortions being provided by clinicians in shield-law states to women in states with Third-Party Bans has increased nearly every month since they began tracking it in July of 2023. According to their numbers from the first three months of 2024, abortion pills are being provided to an average of 6,733 women in “ban” states each month via telehealth.
Applying the 88 percent completion rate[16] to these numbers results in an estimate of at least 71,100 abortions happening inside “ban” states in 2024 by the telehealth method alone. This number does not include Self-Managed Abortions.
While Telehealth Abortions are self-induced, they are not considered to be “self-managed” because they are clinician-provided and, depending on individual state requirements, are often reported to state and federal agencies.
Since the publication of our last report, we have seen no new data on the number of Self-Managed Abortions currently occurring in states with Third-Party Bans. A 2024 study looking at the provision of Self-Managed Abortion pills during the first six months after the Dobbs decision,[17] found that community networks had provided pills to 18,321 women in the U.S. Online pill sellers were estimated to have provided 6,919 women with pills during the same period. These were in addition to 13,223 women who had sourced pills from international telehealth clinics. The more recent emergence of U.S.-based Telehealth Abortions under shield laws as an option for women seeking abortion in states with Third-Party Bans has likely reduced the demand for Self-Managed Abortion pills supplied by other sources. How much the market share has shifted is unclear, but access to Self-Managed Abortion pills has only become easier.
Plan C, an organization that operates as a clearinghouse to connect women who are seeking abortion with pill providers, boasts in their 2023 Annual Report that their website traffic doubled in the year after Roe v. Wade fell. They had 1.8 million site visitors in 2023 with at least 300,000 of those visitors following links off-site to other resources.[18]
Image taken from the Plan C website, September 11, 2024
A recent search on the Plan C website for options in Texas, a General Ban state, produced links to six telehealth clinics operating under shield laws plus many additional options for Self-Managed Abortion pill provision (13 online Self-Managed Abortion pill sellers, one international telehealth clinic, and one community network that provides Self-Managed Abortion pills for free).[19] Searches for resources in other states with Third-Party Bans returned similar results.[20]
Can we count Self-Managed Abortions?
Though it is clear that Self-Managed Abortions are still happening inside states with Third-Party Bans, to err on the side of undercounting, Self-Managed Abortion numbers are excluded from the overall calculations in the next section of this report because more recent data on the frequency of occurrence could not be found.■
The Whole Picture: Overall Abortion Numbers for States with Third-Party Bans (2024 Projections)
FIGURE B
Since the Dobbs decision in 2022, Pro-Life leaders have continued to make the claim that Pro-Life laws are saving thousands of lives.[21] Yet, a look at the overall numbers does not support these claims. In fact, a review of available data indicates that overall numbers of abortions for states with Third-Party Bans are going up not down.
To get a comparable picture of abortion numbers for these states, this section will look at the same 16 states with Third-Party Bans considered in previous sections of this report. This section will compare current overall numbers in these states with numbers from 2019, before any General Bans or 6-Week Bans had gone into effect.
In 2019, the total number of Clinician-Provided Abortions inside these states was reportedly 145,713.[22] Additionally, 34,490 residents of these states reportedly traveled outside their own state that year to procure abortions.[23]
The previous section estimated that there are at least 71,100 Telehealth Abortions occurring per year inside these states. Additionally, some Clinician-Provided Abortions were reportedly still occurring in Georgia (28,080 per year[24]) and South Carolina (2,244 per year[25]) where 6-Week Bans were in effect during the period under review (Jan.-Mar. 2024). Finally, in 2023 an estimated 116,410 women reportedly traveled out of these states to procure abortions in states where Clinician-Provided Abortions were still legal.[26] ■
Conclusion: Babies in all 50 states remain essentially unprotected from abortion.
Conservative estimates due to data limitations
This report’s 2024 projections for abortion numbers assumes that rates found in the data from 2023 and early 2024 have since stayed constant, though to date we have seen no information to indicate that previously rising rates have slowed or leveled. Additionally, as mentioned above, these projections do not include the numbers of Self-Managed Abortions that may still be occurring in these states via pills sourced from online pill sellers, community networks like Las Libres, advance provision of pills, or other sources.
In 2024 we estimate that at least 217,834 abortions of babies from states with General Bans or 6-Week Bans will have occurred. This is an increase of 36,631 compared to 2019 overall numbers before any Third-Party Bans were in place (see Figure B). These totals exclude all methods of Self-Managed Abortion including pills supplied by community networks, online pill sellers, international telehealth clinics, advance provision of pills, as well as non-pill methods of inducing abortion such as herbs or physical force.
While data from the six months immediately after the Dobbs decision indicate that tens of thousands of women were sourcing Self-Managed Abortion pills from community networks and online pill sellers, we lack current data on the size of the market share supplied by these sources after U.S.-based Telehealth Abortions became an option for women in states with Third-Party Bans.
In this report, our research uncovered a variety of data. In instances where numbers and rates were found to be on a range, we made calculations using the more conservative end of the range. In some cases where data was less certain, such as more recent occurrences of Self-Managed Abortion, we excluded the numbers altogether.
Yet in spite of such conservative calculations, the data is still clear: the total number of preborn children being aborted from states where abortion is purportedly banned is higher in 2024 than it was even before General Bans and 6-Week Bans went into effect.
As in our January 2024 report, the numbers here further confirm that, because no states’ laws are considered to prohibit Self-Induced Abortion, babies in all 50 states remain essentially unprotected from abortion. ■
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “Babies Unprotected: An Analysis of Self-Managed Abortion Numbers in States with ‘Bans’” Foundation to Abolish Abortion, last revised May 9, 2024, https://faa.life/s/Babies-Unprotected-Analysis-of-self-managed-abortion-in-states-with-bans_updated-2024-05-09.pdf.
[2] “Tracking Abortion Bans Across the Country,” The New York Times, archived May 1, 2024, at https://web.archive.org/web/20240501105148/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html.
“See where abortions are banned and legal — and where it’s still in limbo,” CNN, archived March 21, 2024, at https://web.archive.org/web/20240321004729/https://www.cnn.com/us/abortion-access-restrictions-bans-us-dg/index.html.
“Abortion law tracker: See where the procedure is currently legal, banned or restricted in the U.S.,” NBC News, accessed, October 4, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/abortion-state-tracking-trigger-laws-bans-restrictions-rcna36199 [https://perma.cc/5D6M-L9KT].
[3] Students for Life of America (@StudentsforLife), “14 states down, 36 to go!,” post included image stating, “As of December 10th, 2023, 14 states are completely abortion-free!,” X, December 10, 2023, https://x.com/StudentsforLife/status/1733899402228400475 [https://perma.cc/KQG6-3RV2].
“Kentucky abortions drop to nearly zero after pro-life law goes into effect,” Live Action, published December 24, 2022, https://www.liveaction.org/news/kentucky-abortions-drop-zero-pro-life-law/ [https://perma.cc/FPH4-A8XE].
Steven Ertelt, “Abortions Drop Almost 100% in States That Ban Abortions, Thousands of Babies Saved,” LifeNews.com, October 24, 2023, https://www.lifenews.com/2023/10/24/abortions-drop-almost-100-in-states-that-ban-abortions-thousands-of-babies-saved/ [https://perma.cc/7M94-K64Z].
“NEW REPORT: Idaho abortion laws are working!,” Idaho Family Policy Center, published January 5, 2024, https://idahofamily.org/new-report-idaho-abortion-laws-are-working/ [https://perma.cc/Z3DK-GJ4N] and https://idahofamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IdahoAbortionLawsWork_Jan5.pdf [https://perma.cc/49BL-9RM5].
[4] Amanda Stirone Mansfield, J.D., “Pro-Life Laws Exempt Women from Prosecution: An Analysis of Abortion Statutes in 27 States,” Charlotte Lozier Institute, January 10, 2024, https://lozierinstitute.org/pro-life-laws-exempt-women-from-prosecution-an-analysis-of-abortion-statutes-in-27-states/ [https://perma.cc/N5AB-5Q8F].
[5] Abigail Aiken, Jennifer Starling, James G. Scott, and Rebecca Gomperts, “Requests for Self-Managed Medication Abortion Provided Using Online Telemedicine in 30 US States Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision,” JAMA 328, no. 17 (November 1, 2022): 1768, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.18865 [https://perma.cc/R5AN-C96B].
[6] Alabama (991,098), Arizona (1,429,665), Arkansas (589,442), Kentucky (856,033), Louisiana (913,757), Mississippi (581,259), Missouri (1,195,516), Oklahoma (799,849), South Dakota (168,448), Texas (6,294,194), West Virginia (846,566), Wisconsin (1,108,084).
US Census Bureau. Population Division: Annual estimates of the resident population for selected age groups by sex: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022, accessed January 11, 2024, https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-detail.html
[7] Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz, “The (Incomplete) Revolution in Counting Abortions,” The New York Times, published December 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/upshot/abortion-roe-dobbs-drugs.html [https://perma.cc/S7PU-C2X9].
[8] Allison McCann, “Inside the Online Market for Overseas Abortion Pills,” The New York Times, published April 14, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/13/us/abortion-pill-order-online-mifepristone.html [https://perma.cc/YYF6-2X58].
[9] Abigail Aiken, Evdokia Romanova, Julia Morber, and Rebecca Gomperts, “Safety and Effectiveness of Self-Managed Medication Abortion Provided Using Online Telemedicine in the United States: A Population Based Study,” The Lancet Regional Health - Americas 10 (June 1, 2022): 100200, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(22)00017-5/fulltext [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100200]
[10] Aiken ARA, Wells ES, Gomperts R, Scott JG. “Provision of Medications for Self-Managed Abortion Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision”. JAMA. 2024;331(18):1558–1564. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.4266 [https://perma.cc/5R6R-KT75].
[11] Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz, “The (Incomplete) Revolution in Counting Abortions,” The New York Times, published December 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/upshot/abortion-roe-dobbs-drugs.html [https://perma.cc/S7PU-C2X9].
[12] Aiken ARA, Wells ES, Gomperts R, Scott JG. “Provision of Medications for Self-Managed Abortion Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision”. JAMA. 2024;331(18):1558–1564. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.4266 [https://perma.cc/5R6R-KT75].
[13] Abigail Aiken, Jennifer Starling, and Daniëlle C. van Blitterswijk, “Advance Provision of Mifepristone and Misoprostol via Online Telemedicine in the US,” JAMA Internal Med. Published online January 2, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.7291.
[14] Additional sources indicate that high numbers of pills for Self-Induced Abortions continued to be shipped into Third-Party Ban states during 2023. Boise State Public Radio reports that, even when looking at just two different pill providers, at least 1,192 women in Idaho received abortion pills by mail inside Idaho in 2023.
Julie Luchetta, “Idaho had 5 documented abortions in 2023, but a closer look at the data tells a different story,” Boise State Public Radio News, published March 27, 2024, https://www.kuer.org/politics-government/2024-03-27/idaho-had-5-documented-abortions-in-2023-but-a-closer-look-at-the-data-tells-a-different-story [https://perma.cc/DEL2-UPKD]
[15] “#WeCount Report: April 2022 through March 2024,” Society of Family Planning, published August 7, 2024. https://doi.org/10.46621/878086iuzegt [https://perma.cc/8BYA-GFYZ].
[16] Society of Family Planning, “#WeCount Report,” page 11, states, “While we have an accurate count of how many telehealth abortions were mailed to patients, #WeCount cannot confirm how many patients did not take the pills that were sent to them.” While the rate is likely higher due to the increased medical formality of telehealth, as elsewhere, this Babies Unprotected report will use the 88% rate found by other studies considering the completion rate of Self-Managed Abortions.
[17] Abigail Aiken, Elisa Wells, Rebecca Gomperts, et al. “Provision of Medications for Self-Managed Abortion Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision,” JAMA, published online March 25, 2024, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2816817 [doi:10.1001/jama.2024.4266]
[18] “Plan C Annual 2023 Report,” Plan C, accessed October 4, 2024, https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5f7e0692875fa8243cac6673/659a20b16a8639197ab8cb49_Plan-C-2023-annual-report.pdf [https://perma.cc/NDW3-7QTP].
[19] “Where people get abortion pills online in Texas,” PlanCPills.org, accessed September 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/texas [https://perma.cc/WZ6N-4Q7E].
[20] As examples, see:
“Where people get abortion pills online in Alabama,” PlanCPills.org, accessed October 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/alabama [https://perma.cc/W8FR-U82L]
“Where people get abortion pills online in Arkansas,” PlanCPills.org, accessed October 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/arkansas [https://perma.cc/R4HE-S6BB]
“Where people get abortion pills online in Idaho,” PlanCPills.org, accessed October 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/idaho [https://perma.cc/A5CQ-JYGR]
“Where people get abortion pills online in Louisiana,” PlanCPills.org, accessed October 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/louisiana [https://perma.cc/9M73-P9R2]
“Where people get abortion pills online in Tennessee,” PlanCPills.org, accessed October 11, 2024, https://www.plancpills.org/abortion-pill/tennessee [https://perma.cc/27VG-6MEW]
[21] SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife), “State pro-life laws protect 200,209 lives annually,” X, June 20, 2024, https://x.com/sbaprolife/status/1803809053295976515 [https://perma.cc/3LAV-D4FA].
Tennessee Right to Life (@tnrighttolife), “Happy Human Life Protection Day! Since August 25th, 2022, over 20,000 babies have been protected in Tennessee!,” X, August 25, 2024, https://x.com/tnrighttolife/status/1827676304163942876 [https://perma.cc/9DHS-ES9D]
Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose), “In the wake of the historic overruling of Roe v Wade, our nation’s worst injustice: -14 states have near-total abortion bans -Amazingly, over 144,000 children’s lives have been saved,” X, June 23, 2024, https://x.com/LilaGraceRose/status/1804830930382811490 [https://perma.cc/28ZC-3AXW].
Steven Ertelt, “Abortions Drop Almost 100% in States That Ban Abortions, Thousands of Babies Saved,” LifeNews.com, October 24, 2023, https://www.lifenews.com/2023/10/24/abortions-drop-almost-100-in-states-that-ban-abortions-thousands-of-babies-saved/ [https://perma.cc/7M94-K64Z].
[22] Data for Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia was taken from state departments of health in these states (compiled by the Charlotte Lozier Institute at https://lozierinstitute.org). Georgia state data does not track all abortions in the state. For Georgia, this report uses data reported by the Guttmacher Institute, here: Rachel K. Jones, Marielle Kirstein, and Jesse Philbin. “Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2020,” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2022; 54(4): 128-141. doi:10.1363/psrh.12215 [https://perma.cc/SK4U-NBBK]
[23] Isaac Maddow-Zimet, Jesse Philbin, Isabel DoCampo, et al., Monthly Abortion Provision Study, Guttmacher Institute, updated Jul. 25, 2024, https://osf.io/k4x7t/
[24] Projection based on numbers of Clinician-Provided Abortions performed or provided in the state of Georgia during January through April 2024 as reported by the “#WeCount Report: April 2022 through March 2024” published by the Society of Family Planning. Abortion reporting data from the state of Georgia is not yet available for 2023 and 2024 and estimates based on January through March 2024 numbers from the “Monthly Abortion Provision Study” published by the Guttmacher Institute project an even higher number of 36,990 abortions still happening inside Georgia in a 12 month period. The Babies Unprotected report relies on the the more conservative #WeCount numbers for our projections.
[25] South Carolina projection is based on Clinician-Provided Abortions reported to the South Carolina Department of Health for September through December 2023 (after their 6-Week Ban was in effect) and published in their 2023 report, “A public report providing statistics compiled from all abortions reported to DHEC, 2023, Based on data from Aug. 23 through Dec. 31, 2023” South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, accessed October 10, 2024, https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/Abortion-Report-2023-Part-2-Aug.22-Dec.31.pdf [https://perma.cc/F7YD-4TB4]
Projections based on early 2024 data from the Society of Family Planning’s August 7, 2024 #WeCount report (3,600 per year) or based on estimates from the Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study (5,250 per year) are both higher than projections derived from the 2023 state reported numbers. We have chosen to use the more conservative estimate to make our projections.
[26] Isaac Maddow-Zimet, Jesse Philbin, Isabel DoCampo, et al., Monthly Abortion Provision Study, Guttmacher Institute, updated Jul. 25, 2024, https://osf.io/k4x7t/