Data show abortions dropped by nearly 40% in Iowa after six-week ban

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 14:05 pm

Abortions dropped sharply in Iowa immediately after a strict abortion ban went into effect there, according to data from a major pro-abortion group. 

Data from the Guttmacher Institute, released on Thursday, show an average of 400 clinician-provided abortions per month in Iowa over the first six months of 2024. 

After the state’s six-week ban went into effect on July 29, “the number of abortions dropped to an estimated 250 in August, a decrease of 38% from the average over the first six months of the year,” Guttmacher said. 

The abortions in the dataset “include procedural abortions as well as medication abortions obtained via telehealth” both in and out of Iowa, Guttmacher said. 

The Guttmacher Institute advocates in favor of abortion; the organization indicated that the data show some Iowa women “may have been forced to continue their [pregnancies]” under the new law. 

The Catholic Church in Iowa earlier this year celebrated the June decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found abortion is “not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution.” That ruling allowed the heartbeat law to take effect. 

“For us, this is a question of the common good and human dignity. Human life is precious and should be protected in our laws to the greatest extent possible,” the state’s bishops said. 

The Iowa figures reflect similar drops in abortion seen around the country in the wake of shifting abortion laws. 

Legal abortions in the United States decreased by more than 6% in the first six months that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade. 

The average number of monthly abortions decreased from 82,270 in the two months before Roe v. Wade was overturned to 77,073 in the six months that followed the decision. 

Similarly, the fertility rate in Texas rose by a statistically significant amount in the wake of the state’s pro-life laws, a University of Houston study revealed in January.

A 2023 study found that Texas’ six-week abortion ban led to nearly 9,800 more births in the state over a nine-month period than otherwise expected.

Earlier this year, on the other hand, the American Medical Association said data indicated a significant increase in unsupervised abortion attempts from 2021 to 2023. 

The researchers in that study, some of whom had ties to Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion ACLU, alleged that pro-life laws were driving the spike in unsupervised abortions.