More Than Two Dozen Abortion Clinics Closed in the First 100 Days Post-Roe

Twenty-six abortion clinics have shut down given that the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade, for every a new investigation from the Guttmacher Institute, cutting off accessibility not only to abortion, but vital well being providers. And scientists say the variety of clinics that shutter will only increase as abortion bans continue to be in outcome.

The evaluation seemed at states exactly where overall or 6-7 days abortion bans are becoming enforced. As of October 2 — the 100-working day mark due to the fact Roe’s overturn — 66 clinics experienced stopped offering abortions, in accordance to the report, which include some in states in which abortion is nonetheless authorized. Previously, 79 clinics offered abortion in the 15 states examined now, only 13 do.

A dozen of the clinic closures ended up in Texas, the place abortion is practically entirely illegal and which enforced a regulation banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant months just before the court undid Roe.

The abortion clinics that keep on being open up — even if they are not delivering abortions — even now provide an array of reproductive providers these types of as contraception, tests for sexually transmitted infections and gender-affirming treatment. As far more clinics shut their doorways, those people expert services will be tougher to come by.

“People in these communities are naturally getting rid of access to abortion care, but they are losing access to other kinds of reproductive overall health care as effectively,” explained Rachel Jones, a principal analysis scientist at Guttmacher and a single of the authors at the rear of the analysis.

The loss of products and services comes as additional men and women were being searching for abortions, knowledge suggests. A June study from Guttmacher found that in 2020, about 1 in 5 pregnancies ended in abortion, the 1st enhance in 30 a long time.

In Ohio and Indiana, courts have blocked the states’ respective six-week and around-whole abortion bans. Close to-total bans remain blocked in Utah and Wyoming. And state courts in South Carolina and Iowa have not authorized 6-week bans to just take effect.

All of individuals scenarios are being actively litigated.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in other states may push to enact much more punitive limits. In Nebraska, the governor attempted to connect with back the legislature to go some type of abortion ban but reportedly fell a few shy of the quantity of votes required to pass a 12-week abortion ban. Florida is now banning abortion for individuals just after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but the legislature is expected to debate a stricter ban in the coming year.

If specific states in the long run are able to enforce these abortion bans, Jones reported, the likely outcome would be even additional clinics shutting down completely.

“The quantity of clinics delivering abortion care will get reduced,” she reported. “The quantity of clinics that will have to shutter absolutely is heading to maximize.”

One clinic in Arizona has shut even even though the state’s total abortion ban, which was handed in 1864, only took influence September 23. That ban is continue to currently being challenged in court.

That immediacy, Jones claimed, highlights that even if abortion bans are at some point overturned, the effects on abortion obtain can however be major.

Heritage supports that. When, in 2013, Texas passed a regulation imposing main restrictions on abortion clinics, a lot of closed forever. Even though that regulation was in the end struck down by the Supreme Court, the aid came way too late for providers, who normally run on thin margins.

“It’s not just a subject of, ‘Oh, we’ll just close our doorways due to the fact there’s an abortion ban and we can reopen overnight if the ban is lifted,’” Jones said. “All this off and on is very hard for clinics to run. They can not afford to pay for to preserve team on hand.”