One Hundred Days after Roe Overturned, 66 Clinics across 15 States Have Stopped Performing Abortions
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 66 clinics across 15 states have stopped performing abortions.
Before the decision was overturned in June, 79 facilities across the 15 states included in the study provided abortions. Between then and October 2, 66 discontinued their abortion operations, leaving only 13 remaining, all located in Georgia, according to new research conducted by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute released Thursday. Georgia has a law on the books prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
Of the 66 centers that no longer provide the procedure, 40 still remain open for other sexual and reproductive services, such as prescribing birth control, or to refer women to seek abortions in other states. The other 26 have permanently closed their doors.
Multiple Democratic-dominated states, such as California, have advertised themselves as “sanctuary” states for abortion, proposing to subsidize travel and accommodations for out-of-state pregnant women seeking abortion. California’s state legislature is weighing a package of 13 bills affiliated with Planned Parenthood to fund what Republicans are calling “abortion tourism.”
In November, California residents will vote on a ballot measure on whether the state’s constitution should be amended to include the right to abortion. Governor Newsom already signed an executive order in June prohibiting other states from seeking medical information on women who receive abortions in California.
In 15 of the states Guttmacher studied, 14 now offer no abortion access. They include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. These states were historically responsible for thousands of annual abortions, with a combined 125,780 reported in 2020, Guttmacher noted.
The organization tracked the availability of abortion in these states, all of which enacted pro-life laws of varying degrees after the fall of Roe, by identifying all the clinics known to have offered abortion in 2020 and following their status as of June 24, 2022 and then through October 2.
Since the draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked before the summer, dozens of pro-life pregnancy centers across the country that provide alternatives to abortion and maternal care and resources have endured violent attacks from pro-abortion extremists. The FBI announced it was launching an investigation into vandalism incidents in June, although no suspects have yet been identified.
However, in the last two weeks alone the FBI has raided the homes of a couple pro-life activists under charges of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which outlaws obstructing the entrance to an abortion facility. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice said eleven individuals involved in a 2021 peaceful protest outside the door of an abortion clinic were charged. If convicted, they could face up to eleven years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, according to a summary of the indictment.
