A lot has happened to impact the status of abortion in the United States since June 24, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court released its Dobbs decision which nullified Roe v. Wade and forced each state to establish its own legislation related to abortion. The biggest expectation was that abortion rates would plummet, especially when laws banning the procedure were passed in 14 states within the first year, after Roe. Sadly, the evidence, as outlined here, tells a very different story. 

While exact abortion data is impossible to access because states are not required to report this information, the Alan Guttmacher Institute which is closely aligned with Planned Parenthood, conducts annual surveys with abortion clinics nationwide. Using data from their Monthly Abortion Provision Study,1 they estimate 1,037,000 abortions occurred in 2023, which indicates abortion rates have increased annually since 2017 when there were 862,320 babies aborted. 

Chemical abortion pills now account for 63% of all pregnancy terminations. Under the Biden Administration, tele-med services for chemical abortion pills were approved in 2021 and currently allow anyone to order the lethal pills online and have them shipped anywhere in America, including to states where abortion bans are in place. 

It is important to note that while many who support abortion believe the state bans deny women their reproductive freedom, two current reports indicate access to abortion throughout pregnancy is still widely available in America. 

First, a recent report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute2 found that overall, the U.S. has some of the most permissive abortion laws worldwide.

Their Executive Summary states: 

• Of 193 U.N. countries, the United States is one of eight countries that allows, at the federal level, abortion on demand without any gestational limits along with Australia, Canada, China, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, South Korea, and Vietnam. 
• The United States is one of only 15 countries in the United Nations that permit abortion on demand past 15 weeks of gestation, meaning its abortion law is far more permissive than the vast majority of the world. 
• 46 out of 50 European U.N. member countries restrict abortion on demand after 15 weeks of gestation. 
• Second, Planned Parenthood’s (PP) annual report3 shows that abortions and government funding for abortion is also increasing. According to the medical data portion of their report: 
• 392,715 abortions were performed, up from last year’s 374,155 abortions. 
• 410,272 breast cancer screenings and Pap tests were performed, down from 470,419 the previous year. 
• 129,216 preventive care visits occurred, down from 187,234 the previous year. 
• 1,721 adoption referrals were given, down from 1,803 the previous year and less than half of the 4,279 reported just four years ago. 

On the financial side of the PP report, there are increases as well: 

• $2.5 billion in net assets, up from $2.3 billion the previous year. 
• $699 million in government funding (tax dollars), up from $670 million the previous year. 
• $2 billion in total revenue, up from $1.9 billion the previous year. 
• $977.5 million in private contributions and bequests. 

The only number that went down for Planned Parenthood financially was their profit margin, which may be due to an increase in expenses, as they now provide funds for women to travel out of states with bans, to states where they can procure abortions. 

The current administration is also concerned about abortion in the U.S. and recently amended the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), [passed in December 2022, to ensure the workplace was more accessible to pregnant women by requiring employers to provide accommodations for expectant mothers under the Americans with Disabilities Act,] to now include abortion access. 

According to LifeNews.com, “The PWFA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known3 limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. However, the bill does not define what is considered a “reasonable accommodation,” or what is considered a “related medical condition.” 

Although the measure was meant to help and support pregnant women, Biden officials are using it to promote abortion. As a result, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a new rule recently that amends PWFA, to impose pro-abortion regulations on virtually every employer in the country, even those who believe life begins at conception.” 

This rule applies to all employers with 15 or more employees, including not-for-profit organizations, churches, and ministries. 

Not to be outdone by the current administration’s abortion protections, 17 Democrat Attorneys General have formed a working group to protect access to abortion, they are led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. According to Campbell, “The group will be prioritizing the use of abortion ‘shield laws.’ These laws provide legal protection to doctors and other entities that provide abortions or mail abortion pills to women in states where they are banned.” 

New York Attorneys General Letitia James wants to prevent women from having choices beyond abortion and recently served at least a dozen pregnancy resource centers in NY with a “Notice of Intention to Sue.” Lawsuits of this nature could result in closing every pregnancy center in New York. 

Her letter to the centers falsely accuses them of “repeated and persistent misleading statements and omissions” about Abortion Pill Reversal. AG James gave the pregnancy centers 5 business days to respond. The pregnancy centers face $5,000 in fines for every violation, meaning a $5,000 fine for every time a pregnancy center responds to pregnant woman trying to save her baby through the Abortion Pill Reversal process. 

Finally, as AFL reported in our March newsletter, eleven states have ballot initiatives that are designed to enshrine legalized abortion in each state; however, a judge in New York recently declared their ballot initiative invalid due to procedural mistakes made by the legislators. 

It is hard to realize that while Dobbs overturned Roe, it hasn’t decreased the number of abortions as expected, nor has its proponents changed their tactics. What has changed is people’s perception that the abortion fight is over, when in all actuality, more babies are being destroyed in the womb.