Sad news. As we all know, changing laws is important - the law is a moral teacher - but much, much more is needed.
This is from yesterday's Wall Street Journal and we have excerpted much of the article below the link. Note the last two paragraphs with comments from the abortion promoter.
New abortion bans have done little to reduce frequency of the procedure, new data show
Data released Tuesday shows the number of abortions ticked up slightly in the year following the high court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. That ruling, from June 2022, ended federal protections for the procedure, and paved the way for some 16 states to ban many or most abortions.
The data indicate that abortion providers, funders and others have adapted quickly to a legal landscape that has changed profoundly. Access has been cut off throughout much of the South, and demand has surged in states in which abortion is still legal. Many providers there have had to significantly increase capacity.
The findings also underscore the challenges facing antiabortion groups, as the ease of traveling to another state or obtaining abortion pills online seem to be largely undercutting laws intended to reduce abortions.
In the new study, WeCount, an abortion-data project sponsored by the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion rights, found that nationwide there were 183 more monthly abortions on average in the 12-month period following the Dobbs decision compared with the monthly average prior to the decision. That trend mirrors similar findings by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that also supports abortion rights, which showed the number of abortions rising in most states in the first half of this year compared with 2020, the most recent year for which data are available.
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While it has become much harder since the end of Roe to obtain an abortion in states with newly enacted bans, it actually appears to have become easier in many other states, thanks to increased attention and resources. Abortion funds, nonprofits that help finance abortions and logistics associated with them, have raised millions to help lower-income women pay for procedures and travel, while new clinics have opened in states such as Illinois and New Mexico that have become major destinations for women traveling from other states.
Nearly 115,000 fewer abortions were performed in the year after the Dobbs decision in states that banned abortions throughout pregnancy or after six weeks, according to the WeCount data. At the same time, states including Illinois, Florida and North Carolina—where the procedure remained largely legal—saw an increase of 117,000 abortions.
The data don’t include women who order pills online from overseas outside of the formal medical system, a practice that appears to have become more common.
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In California, Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties doubled the number of open appointments available for medication abortion at its nine locations in spring 2022 in anticipation of the high court’s decision, said Krista Hollinger, the Planned Parenthood branch’s chief operating officer.
Those centers have seen an increase in out-of-state patients, but more Californians are getting abortions as well. Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties saw a 20% increase in its total volume since June 2022, while only about 3% of that increase came from out-of-state patients.
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For antiabortion advocates, the policy options available to combat the ease of traveling and obtaining pills online present major challenges. Any efforts to prevent women from traveling out of state for abortions could run up against constitutional challenges. Restricting the use of abortion pills ordered online from overseas or out-of-state actors is difficult without punishing the women who take them—long something antiabortion groups have pledged to avoid.
Abortion opponents are fighting hard to garner support from Republican presidential candidates for a national abortion limit, but such a proposal has little hope of making it through the current Congress.
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In the first month since North Carolina passed a 12-week limit, the number of abortions in the state declined by nearly one-third from the prior month, according to Guttmacher. The law increased requirements for in-person medical visits, which providers say has virtually eliminated visits from out-of-state patients.
A challenge to approval for a widely used abortion pill appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and could potentially upend access across the country in the next year if it succeeds.
Abortion-rights groups also acknowledge that they face internal risks, including staff burnout at clinics that remain open and a decrease in fundraising firepower if public attention fades.
The Chicago Abortion Fund has quadrupled its staff and tripled its budget since 2021. The fund has provided about $4.5 million to thousands of patients to assist with plane, train and bus tickets; hotel stays; child care; and other costs since Roe was struck down.
“This is not a long-term solution,” said Megan Jefyio, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. “We are dealing with competing crises in this country and I don’t know how long we’re going to have this sustained support.”