After the Dobbs decision, near or total abortion bans were enacted in 13 states. It was generally expected that the abortion rate in those states would go down. However, the number of abortions has gone up in states that enacted bans. NPR looks at possible causes. One may be the MAHA and pro-natal movement spreading misinformation that hormonal birth control is bad and influencing women to stop taking it. But Brittni Federiksen, a women’s health policy researcher at the nonpartisan organization KFF, does not think that shifts in birth control use explains recent abortion numbers. “I actually think the number of abortions going up is likely just due to increased abortion accessibility, particularly with telehealth medication abortions,” she said.
In addition to not actually lowering the rate of abortions in the U.S., the Dobbs decision has negatively impacted reproductive health care. There are dozens of horror stories of pregnant women being refused care with devastating outcomes in states with abortion bans. It also seems that because of these new laws pregnant patients are seeking reproductive healthcare later and showing up in desperate need of care.
