Most Women Denied Abortions by Texas Law Got Them Another Way

Texas residents have an estimated number of monthly abortions.

The law on abortion goes into effect.

There are legal abortions.

in nearby states

There are requests for something.

The pills are used for abortion.

Legal in-state.

There are abortions in Texas.

The law on abortion goes into effect.

There are legal abortions.

in nearby states

There are requests for something.

The pills are used for abortion.

Legal in-state.

There are abortions in Texas.

The law on abortion goes into effect.

Legal.

There are abortions.

in close proximity.

states

There are requests for something.

The pills are used for abortion.

Legal in-state.

There are abortions in Texas.

After Texas banned all but the earliest abortions in September, the number of legal abortions in the state fell by half. The total number of women in Texas fell by 10 percent, according to two new studies, but large increases in the number of Texans who traveled to a nearby clinic or ordered abortion pills online may have been the reason.

The number of women using these alternatives was counted by two groups of researchers. They found that the Texas law did not lower the number of abortions as much as had been thought.

The data shows that if the Supreme Court overturns the abortion law of Wade, abortion access may be affected. The data shows the limitations of the laws. Some women will carry unwanted pregnancies to term because of restrictions.

The law has not changed people's need for abortion care, it has shifted where people are getting their abortion, according to the principal investigator of the university's Texas Policy Evaluation Project. She was surprised at how few abortions were prevented by the sweeping set of restrictions. It's pretty amazing.

Even a modest reduction in abortions is a success for the architects of the Texas law.

John Seago, the legislative director of Texas Right to Life, said there was no hesitation in declaring this a victory for protecting pre-born children from abortion.

When he signed the bill, Abbott said the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.

Several states have passed new abortion restrictions even if they conflict with the Supreme Court's decision in 1973. The Florida Legislature voted to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. If the Supreme Court allows it, between 21 and 26 states are expected to ban or substantially restrict abortion. An effort by Senate Democrats to codify abortion rights into federal law failed to get enough votes.

The Texas law went into effect in September of 2021, and according to one of the new studies, an average of 1,400 women went to one of seven nearby states. Before the law, that was 12 times more likely to be done out of state.

New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi and Colorado were included in the study. Almost half of Texans traveled to Oklahoma and a quarter to New Mexico. The total was probably higher because it counted 34 Texans who visited SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA was SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA

An average of 1,100 women order abortion pills online each month from Aid Access, an overseas service that sends pills in the mail while skirting U.S. abortion restrictions. The number of people who ordered pills in an average month before the law tripled, according to the second study.

There used to be an average of 11 requests a day. The number of requests spiked to over 100 a day, and has leveled out at about 30. The study couldn't determine if the requests resulted in abortions.

The law is semi-effective and won't stop all abortions, according to an author of the study.

A variety of research has found that people who were unable to get abortions are more likely to be poor. It costs a lot to travel to another state and pay for things like child care and lodging.

The new data doesn't include all Texans who got abortions, but it does cover the most common alternative methods.

The same patterns may not hold nationwide, because access to abortion would be harder than it has been for Texans.

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Recent research shows that abortion pills are accessible, reliable and effective outside of formal health care settings and that information about Aid Access is being shared online. It is an option, but some women don't know it.

It is against the law to sell prescription medicine to American patients from another country without a prescription from a doctor in the United States. Even as Texas and other states have restricted medication abortion, enforcement is difficult.

Clinics in the South and Midwest would close if it weren't for Roe. The closings would increase average driving distances to the nearest clinic to about 280 miles, up from 35 miles for women in states without one.

As the challenges of travel mount, research shows that longer distances tend to reduce abortions. When the law went into effect, groups that provide financial and logistical support to Texas women said donations decreased.

The groups said they wouldn't have enough resources to help women in many states. Remaining clinics are likely to be overwhelmed. Trust Women, which has an abortion clinic in Oklahoma, is seeing 10 times as many Texans as it used to. That causes a domino effect. Many Oklahomans can't get local care and have to go somewhere else, according to an executive director of the clinics.

The clinics have tried to expand to meet demand, but especially in Oklahoma, where abortion would be banned if the law were to be overturned.

Two-thirds of Hope Medical's patients are from Texas, up from one-fifth before the Texas law went into effect. The majority of abortions used to be done before nine weeks, but now most patients are in the late first or early second trimester, because of the longer wait times for appointments.

The clinic is seeing women who are further along in their pregnancies because we are so busy.

If abortion remains legal in a state, clinics are planning to open over state lines, offer more guidance, or offer pre-abortion care.

The influx of Texas patients provided a glimpse of a future in which Colorado could become an abortion hub, according to the medical director of the Rocky Mountains.

I don't know, but we can't absorb 26 states going dark.

The recent numbers are compared to a baseline of abortion numbers before the legal change. For legal in-state abortions and requests for abortion pills, we compared the period from March to July in 2021.

For out-of-state abortions, we compared the period from March to July in 2021. There were no figures from early 2021.

The number of abortions in Texas increased in August 2021, in anticipation of the new restrictions, so we did not include that figure in the historical numbers.