Abortion access in the U.S. has dramatically shifted since the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning precedent Roe v. Wade, announced on June 24, 2022. The change has created a patchwork of different rules across the United States as it freed states up to outlaw abortion if they wanted. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of state policies and court decisions as of July 29, 2024, 14 states have implemented a near-total ban of abortions, allowing them only in certain exceptional cases, for example when the life of the mother is in danger. At the other end of the scale, eight states and Washington D.C. allow abortions at all stages of pregnancy, while the remaining 28 states allow them until a certain gestational age or before fetal viability, which is usually reached around week 24. Strict laws, like full and 6-week bans on abortion are currently blocked by courts in another five states.
The 2022 decision has also put abortion rights back on top of the political agenda, making it one of the key issues in the 2024 presidential election. According to a recent Economist/YouGov survey, 76 percent of U.S. adults said that abortion was a very or somewhat important issue to them.
Interestingly, the number of abortions carried out in the formal health care system climbed to a decade high in 2023 – the first full year after the Supreme Court’s controversial decision. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit committed to advancing sexual and reproductive rights worldwide, 1,037,000 legal abortions occurred in the U.S. last year, representing a rate of 15.9 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. “This increase demonstrates that people continue to seek and obtain abortion care despite the drastic reduction in abortion access in many states,” the Guttmacher Institute writes. “While access has decreased dramatically in states with bans, almost all other states have experienced substantial increases in the number of abortions provided." NGO Society of Family Planning estimates that the number of virtual-only abortion appointments - where an abortion pill is sent in the mail - has risen dramatically since mid-2023, explaining how abortions can rise nationwide despite many bans in place. Another way women from states that ban abortions can obtain them is to travel to another state, even though this is not possible for everyone.
