Abortion has reached its lowest rate since Roe vs. Wade established early abortion as a right, according to a new Guttmacher Institute report. Abortion opponents are already hailing the decline as a victory for extremist anti-abortion policies, but the research suggests otherwise. The rate began falling well before the latest round of abortion restrictions and clinic closures. Moreover, the research suggests that the drop could be due to a decrease in unintended pregnancies—likely because of increased availability of contraceptives.
Abortion Rate Declines
The study used telephone interviews, e-mails, phone calls, and faxes to interview all facilities known to provide abortions in 2016 and 2017. Researchers also supplemented their data with state health department data from 2016-2017. Researchers were able to get data on 59% of all abortion facilities. The facilities least likely to provide data were doctor’s offices and hospitals. These facilities typically provide fewer abortions than abortion clinics.
Drawing on this data and population data from the Census Bureau, the analysis concluded that the abortion rate in 2016-2017 dropped to an all-time low of 13.5 per 100,000 women. Overall, about 1 in 5 pregnancies end in abortion.
In 2013, the last time researchers measured the abortion rate, it was 14 per 100,000. This points to a steady decline in the abortion rate.
So what’s behind the numbers? The data does not support the claim that restrictive abortion laws are the culprit, because the rate began dropping well before most such laws went into effect. Instead, researchers point to a decline in the pregnancy rate, which has dropped dramatically over the last decade.
Abortion declined in almost every state, regardless of whether the state restricted abortion. Four states are an exception to the rule: North Carolina, Mississippi, Wyoming and Georgia, each of which has enacted sweeping abortion restrictions.
Did the Affordable Care Act Help Reduce Abortions?
Better access to contraceptives, especially long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs, may account for the overall decline in pregnancies, researchers say. For some women, the Affordable Care Act made contraceptives accessible for the first time. A 2017 Guttmacher Institute analysis suggests that the Affordable Care Act might have reduced the abortion rate by improving access to contraceptives.
With a steady decline in the birth rate, we know that women aren’t deciding to keep unwanted pregnancies. They’re just not getting pregnant. The mandate that most plans cover contraceptives gives women who might have struggled to afford birth control a chance to control their bodies, their births, and their destinies.
Restrictive Abortion Laws Increase Maternal Deaths, But Don’t Decrease Abortions
As is always the case when abortion numbers drop, abortion opponents thump their chests and claim victory. Just control women more, and everything will get better! Case studies from other countries show that the only real effect of restrictive abortion laws is an increase in maternal mortality.
In much of Latin America, abortion is illegal or heavily restricted. Yet the abortion rate there is more than three times the rate in the U.S. Abortion bans in El Salvador transformed suicide into a leading cause of death among pregnant women and girls. Worldwide, unsafe illegal abortions kill nearly 50,000 women annually. Abortion bans kill women—and the fetuses they carry.
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and is the only wealthy country in which maternal mortality is increasing. In Georgia, which recently passed one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, the maternal mortality rate is higher than that of 100 other countries.
The Republican insistence upon ignoring maternal mortality in favor of laws that will increase it is not an accident. This has never been about life. Anti-choicers want to control women, even if they have to kill them in the process.