Late-term abortions spike in blue states amid liberal laws

Pro-choice advocates have dismissed concerns about late-term abortion as a right-wing talking point, but pro-life groups are flagging data showing a surge of such cases in liberal-leaning states.

Figures released by the Oregon Health Authority show that the number of abortions performed after 23 weeks of gestation, when the baby can survive outside the womb, soared 165% from 85 in 2022 to 225 in 2023.

Overall, the number of abortions rose to 10,075, an increase of 16.2% from 2022 and the highest state total since 2009.

“The dramatic increase in late-term abortions in Oregon is devastating and horrific,” said Lois Anderson, executive director of Oregon Right to Life. “At 23 weeks’ gestation and beyond, the unborn human being is well developed. … She can feel pain, and with help, she can survive outside the womb.”

In Colorado, the number of abortions performed after 28 weeks of gestation rose from 118 in 2022 to 137 in 2023, an increase of 16%, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data analyzed by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Overall, abortions in Colorado rose 3.8% from 14,154 in 2022 to 14,691 in 2023, the highest total recorded since 1985. The pro-choice Guttmacher Institute estimated the total at 26,300 in its Monthly Abortion Provision Study.

The Lozier analysis released this month attributed the discrepancy to medically induced abortions at home.

“Colorado does not limit abortion at any gestational age, so it is possible that Guttmacher’s count for Colorado’s 2023 total included mail-order abortions prescribed by doctors in the United States and mailed into Colorado,” the institute said.

In Michigan, total abortions rose by 3.7% from 30,120 in 2022 to 31,241 in 2023. Post-viability abortions, or those performed after 21 weeks of gestation, increased 18%, according to state Department of Health and Human Services data.

The number of abortions has dropped dramatically in conservative-leaning states that have tightened their laws since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, but the Lozier Institute flagged increases in states with liberal abortion laws.

“As of November 2024, 21 states had released 2023 abortion statistics, nine of which showed an increase in abortions from 2022,” the institute said.

So-called abortion tourism may account for the rise as women from states with strict laws seek procedures elsewhere. In Oregon, 16% of abortions were performed on nonresident women, an increase of 60% from 2022.

Oregon state Sen. Suzanne Weber said she worries that the increase in post-viability procedures could be related to the Democratic Party’s emphasis on abortion after the Supreme Court returned the issue to states.

“We were struck with it every single day on TV by the candidates. They were pushing it so hard. It was like a single-issue campaign,” said Ms. Weber, a Republican.

Another factor may be the increase in human trafficking as cartels and gangs flow into the country from the porous southern border. A 2014 study by the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy found that 66 formerly trafficked women had undergone 114 abortions among them.

“We have a lot of human trafficking going on in this state,” Ms. Weber said. “We have the I-5 freeway that runs right through here and connects with southern Oregon, where they were especially growing a lot of illegal marijuana, and then we have all of the drugs from Mexico that come right up through that corridor. And human trafficking goes right along with that.”

Planned Parenthood has blasted late-term abortion as a “completely made-up phrase” and “pure anti-abortion propaganda” but said restrictions in conservative states could result in delays for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies.

“Abortion bans make people travel out of state to get care and cause a backlog of patients at health centers, forcing people to delay their abortions,” Planned Parenthood said in an October 2022 post. “And other restrictions — like waiting periods, mandatory ultrasounds, parental notification laws, and laws prohibiting health insurance or Medicaid from covering abortion care — create even more barriers that lead to later abortions.”

Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said state data typically doesn’t explain why women undergo abortions after fetal viability.

“Was it for a fetal anomaly diagnosis? Was it for the life-of-the-mother situation?” she said. “That’s a big problem, that we don’t know and that states don’t capture that data most of the time.”

Ms. Pritchard referred to research by late-term abortion specialist Warren Hern, showing that about one-fifth of procedures performed at his Colorado clinic were for cases of fetal abnormalities.

“Guttmacher has even said that many of those abortions are elective,” she said. “I think we have reason to be concerned that these late-term abortions are happening for elective reasons.”

California, Maryland, New Hampshire and North Dakota don’t report abortion data to the federal government, and Michigan will soon join them.

The Democratic-led state Legislature voted last year to stop requiring abortion clinics to report their numbers, citing privacy concerns, over objections from Republicans and pro-life groups.

Michigan will not collect abortion data in 2024 for the first time in 45 years.

“I think we can all agree that the data is necessary, but they of course often try to leave people in the dark,” Ms. Pritchard said. “And the abortion industry doesn’t want people to know.”