Texas abortions dropped almost 60% in first month of ban

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is reporting that abortions declined by nearly 60% during the first month of the state’s ban of the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, but reproductive health experts say it’s impossible to tell yet how many women got them through other means.

The Texas agency said Friday in a report that abortions declined from 5,404 reported in August to slightly fewer than 2,200 abortions in September, when Senate Bill 8 became law.

The so-called heartbeat law allows private citizens to file lawsuits for $10,000 or more against anyone who performs or assists with an abortion when a baby’s heartbeat is detectable after six weeks of pregnancy.

Florida State University law professor Mary Ziegler, a leading expert on the legal history of the U.S. abortion debate, said Monday the report confirms only that many Texas doctors have “backed away” from offering abortions for fear of lawsuits.

“On the one hand, I think it’s a powerful sign of how S.B. 8 has been effective without a lot of lawsuits being filed because a lot of doctors in a post-Roe America won’t be willing to risk serious financial damages or prison time,” Ms. Ziegler said. “On the other hand, we can’t know how much abortions are actually declining, because we don’t know how much it’s stopped people from traveling or from taking medication at home.”

So far, pro-life activists haven’t filed any lawsuits to collect what opponents of the law refer to as “bounties.”

Ms. Ziegler said no data exists yet on how many women seeking abortions after six weeks have traveled to other states for a surgical procedure or obtained pills for a chemical procedure at home, which most states permit up to nine weeks of pregnancy.

“In-state abortions may still be happening in the small window between when they know they’re pregnant and six weeks after their last menstrual period,” Ms. Ziegler said. “That means, in many instances, someone with a regular menstrual period would not know they were pregnant until two weeks before the Texas law lets them get an abortion.”

Kristen Day, president of Democrats for Life of America, said she’s heard anecdotal reports of increased chemical abortions in Texas and women going as far as Kansas for surgical abortions. But she agreed it will be hard to track how many women do not get an abortion as a result of the ban.

“Pro-life advocates should cheer this number, but we also need to make sure women in unplanned and crisis pregnancies receive the support they need to carry their pregnancies to term,” Ms. Day said. “There have been reports of women traveling to neighboring states; so, clearly, there is more work to do in Texas to connect women with the robust support for pregnancy and parenting assistance.

Ms. Day said she’s also heard anecdotally from pregnancy support centers in Texas that have experienced “more demand for their services” from women seeking alternatives to abortion over the past few months of the ban.

“The pregnancy support workers are the true heroes of this movement, providing compassionate support to women regardless of their ultimate choice,” she said.

Michael New, a political scientist at The Catholic University of America who analyzes abortion trends, cited a recent Heartbeat International study that found 41% of pregnancy support centers in Texas and surrounding states have seen an increase in clients since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Texas ban to stand in early September.

“The Heartbeat Act will continue to face legal challenges,” Mr. New said. “However, these new statistics from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission do provide solid evidence that the Texas law is protecting preborn children.”

Texas’ law contravenes a Supreme Court ruling that prevents states from banning early-stage abortions but circumvents it by targeting the abortion providers financially rather than the women who seek them.

Opponents of the Texas law have warned that it unduly burdens women by requiring them to travel great distances and perhaps even seek out less safe alternatives for ending a pregnancy.

In a statement Friday on the Texas report, Planned Parenthood called the numbers “the very beginning of the devastating impact” of the state’s ban.

But Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the conservative Susan B. Anthony List that supports pro-life women politicians, said the data confirms that the Texas ban “has saved thousands of lives” and set the stage for an even bigger sea change when the Supreme Court rules later this year on another state abortion ban in Mississippi.

“Even greater potential is ahead as we await the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case, which could restore the right of all states to modernize our laws and protect unborn children and mothers prior to viability,” Ms. Dannenfelser said. “If the Court finally unshackles the people and their elected representatives, as it should, for the first time in generations they will have the opportunity to enact their consensus in the law and save countless little boys and girls waiting to be born.”