After the Dobbs decision, births rose in states with bans, but more for some women than others.
Abortion bans successfully prevented some women from getting abortions in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to a detailed new study of birth data from 2023. The effects were most pronounced among women in certain groups — Black and Hispanic women, women without a college degree, and women living farthest from a clinic.
Abortion has continued to rise since the period the data covers, especially through pills shipped into states with bans. But the study identifies the groups of women who are most likely to be affected by bans.
For the average woman in states that banned abortion, the distance to a clinic increased to 300 miles from 50 miles, resulting in a 2.8 percent increase in births relative to what would have been expected without a ban.
For Hispanic women living 300 miles from a clinic, births increased 3.8 percent. For Black women, it was 3.2 percent, and for white women 2 percent.
“It really tracks, both that women who are poorer and younger and have less education are more likely to have an unintended pregnancy, and more likely to be unable to overcome the barriers to abortion care,” said Dr. Alison Norris, an epidemiology professor at Ohio State who helps lead a nationwide abortion counting effort and was not involved in the new study.