According to research revealed on Thursday, at least 66 facilities have ceased performing abortions in 15 states since the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that promotes abortion rights, claims that the number of facilities performing abortions in the 15 states decreased from 79 before to the June 24 ruling to 13 as of October 2.
The remaining 13 clinics are all located in Georgia. Although some of their facilities provide services other than abortions, the other states do not have any providers who perform abortions.
According to the organization, there were more than 800 abortion facilities nationwide in 2020.
The picture that is beginning to take shape should alarm anyone who supports reproductive freedom and the right to bodily autonomy, according to Rachel Jones, a Guttmacher researcher. “Much more research will need to be conducted to grasp the full extent of the chaos, confusion, and harm that the U.S. Supreme Court has unleashed on people needing abortions,” she added.
Although Jones emphasized that clinics perform the majority of U.S. abortions, including the procedures and administration of abortion drugs, the new study does not contain statistics on hospitals and physician offices that offered abortion and discontinued them following the court verdict. Recent Guttmacher statistics suggest that medicine is used in slightly over half of abortions in the United States.
The majority of states without abortion clinics are in the South. According to Jones, several of those locations would require many women to travel great distances in order to have abortions.
Clinic closures, according to Indiana and Ohio-based abortionist Dr. Jeanne Corwin “would do irreparable damage to women’s physical, emotional, and financial well-being.
Access is under danger in some states since court injunctions only briefly halted prohibitions. According to the report, they include Indiana, Ohio, and South Carolina.
“It is risky from both a medical and business perspective,” said Dr. Katie McHugh, an OB-GYN who performs abortions in Indiana. “When you don’t know whether you’re going to be a criminal tomorrow, it’s hard to keep the doors open and the lights on.”