Abortion in America, explained in 10 facts

This year alone, four states passed a "heart-breaking" law banning abortions as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. Alabama has just passed an almost total ban on abortion at any stage of its pregnancy, without exception for rape or incest.

On Thursday, Missouri took a step closer to banning abortion at eight weeks of gestation, including without exception for rape or incest – the bill was passed by the state Senate and is now subject to the approval of the House.

As legislation to restrict abortion progresses in the country, many Americans are questioning the procedure. Some wonder whether abortion is still legal (in all states of the country), that it is on the rise (this is not the case) and that the laws recently adopted in the country will affect the patients (the answers vary from state to state).

To help answer these questions and more, here are 10 facts that paint a picture of abortion in America today.

1) Abortion is at its lowest

Given the recent efforts of legislators to restrict abortion, you might think that the procedure was increasing. In fact, it's less common than ever, as reported by Sarah Kliff at Vox last December.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the abortion rate in the United States decreased by 26% between 2006 and 2015, reaching its lowest level ever recorded.

According to experts, the main reason for this decline is not the tightening of abortion laws: it is better access to contraception.

"When contraceptives are not available, women perform abortions, even if it is not legally sanctioned and exposes them to high physical risk," said Diana Greene Foster, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. California in San Francisco, who studies abortion. Kliff in 2016. "When contraceptives are more available, the use of abortion decreases."

The recent decline in abortions may be due in particular to the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUDs, which work for years without having to take a tablet every day. In 2012, the Affordable Care Act made these forms of birth control, which can have a high upfront cost, more accessible by requiring that most employer-provided insurance plans cover them without share. But, as reported by Kliff, Americans were already opting for these methods – and as a result, the proportion of unwanted pregnancies fell from 51% to 45% between 2008 and 2011.

2) Abortion is still common

Even though the abortion rate has decreased, the procedure remains mundane. According to an analysis conducted in 2017 by the Guttmacher Institute, 23.7% of women in the United States will have an abortion before the age of 45. Nineteen percent will have one before the age of 30 and 4.6% will have one before the age of 20.

3) Most people who have abortions already have children

Representations of abortion in pop culture, taken from the 2014 romantic comedy Obvious child to the anti-abortion biopic 2019 Unexpected, usually present a single woman without children undergoing the procedure. The decision is often presented as a choice between having an abortion or becoming a parent.

But in reality, the majority of abortions are already parents. In 2014, according to Guttmacher, 59% of abortions had already given birth to at least one child.

And while abortion is often mentioned in the context of teen pregnancy, the majority of women who had an abortion in 2014 – 60% – were in their 20s. 25% were in their thirties and less than 4% were under 18 years old.

People who have an abortion have a disproportionate risk of low income – in 2014, 49% had a family income below the poverty line.

And although religious groups are among the most virulent advocates of abortion in America, the majority of those who had an abortion in 2014 identified themselves as religious, with 17% of them declaring themselves Protestant, 13% as evangelical and 24% as Roman. Catholic. The abortion rate among Catholic women was about the same as the national average, while among evangelical women it was about half of the national average.

4) Four states have passed "heart-breaking" bills in 2019 and Alabama has just passed an even stricter law

A wave of "heartbeat" bills, which prohibit abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, has swept the country in recent months. These bills prohibit the procedure as early as six weeks before pregnancy, before many people know that they are pregnant.

The first was adopted in North Dakota in 2013, but Iowa adopted its version last May. This year, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have all passed heart-wrenching laws. Some of them have exceptions for cases of rape or incest; Others do not do it.

On Wednesday, the governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, enacted an even more restrictive bill, which bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, without exception for rape or incest . Under the law, which should come into force in six months, abortion would be legal only if the life of the pregnant person is threatened.

At the same time, the Missouri State Senate on Thursday passed a bill banning abortion at eight weeks' gestation, with no exception for rape or incest. Under the bill, which now goes back to the State House, abortion would be legal only in cases of medical emergency.

5) None of these laws is still in force

The heartbeat laws passed in the country have all been challenged in court or will likely be litigated soon. None has yet taken effect. The law of Alabama has not taken effect yet and should be challenged as well.

Abortion is currently legal in the 50 states.

6) If it comes into force, Georgian law could have an impact on people who have a miscarriage

The Georgian "heartbeat" law, in particular, has aroused the concern of many after Slate's Mark Joseph Stern said it could be used to prosecute women who seek medical treatment. abortion or miscarriage.

At this stage, reproductive rights advocates say they do not know if the law would be used in this way.

"This seems to go beyond what is actually provided for by law and I really do not understand if that would be possible or not," Vox told Elizabeth Nash, head of state affairs at the University of Toronto. Guttmacher Institute.

Part of the confusion may come from the way Georgian law and other similar texts are written. "These laws are not particularly clear," Vox Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University, who is studying the history of the abortion debate, told Vox. "Really, the problem will be how they will be applied."

If Georgian law comes into force, it is more likely that a person who has a miscarriage would be dragged into a criminal investigation by a doctor or other provider, rather than suffering from it herself. even criminal prosecution, Staci Fox, president of Planned Parenthood Southeast, told the Washington Post.

Symptoms of a miscarriage may be indistinguishable from those of an induced abortion, according to OB-GYN Dr. Jen Gunter. According to New York Times pediatric professor Aaron E. Carroll, miscarriages are extremely common and affect about 10% of all known pregnancies.

7) Many recently adopted abortion laws aim to reverse Roe v. Wade

Sponsors of several recently adopted abortion restrictions have stated that part of their goal is to challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established that Americans have the right to obtain an abortion. Since the "Heartbeat" bills and the Alabama law prohibit abortion long before viability, they are clearly in conflict with the law. roe. They have been or will be challenged in court and cases could be referred to the Supreme Court, which would give them a chance to come back and eventually overthrow roe.

Alabama state representative Terri Collins, who sponsored the recently adopted state abortion law, said it was her goal. "What I'm trying to do here is to bring the case to the Supreme Court so that Roe v. Wade can be overthrown, "she told the Washington Post.

It may not work. Because Alabama's law does not provide for exceptions for rape and incest, it is so controversial that the Supreme Court might not want to intervene. However, there are already more than a dozen cases involving an abortion at one step from the Supreme Court and this one could choose to use one of them for reconsider Deer. So, even if the Alabama law or the "Heartbeat" bills do not reverse the historic abortion decision, something else could do it.

8) Some recently adopted or proposed bills soften restrictions on abortion

While abortion opponents rely on increasingly restrictive laws at the state level, abortion advocates have supported legislation to ease restrictions on sex workers. Abortion and strengthen access to abortion. In part, they are preparing for the possibility that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, giving states the right to regulate abortion as they see fit. Proponents of abortion rights want states to enact laws to protect abortions so that roe falls, residents of these states will still have access to the procedure.

A recent example is the Reproductive Health Act, passed in New York in January. Among other things, the law allows abortions after 24 weeks if the fetus is not viable or if there is a risk to the health of the patient. Previously, most abortions after 24 weeks had been banned in New York.

Another recent effort to ease restrictions has occurred in Virginia, where state legislators have proposed a bill that would have expanded the circumstances under which a person could have an abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy. This bill was finally introduced as a result of a national controversy, which began when the sponsor of the bill said at a hearing that the bill would allow abortion if a patient gave birth.

The promoter then stated that she was poorly expressed, and Dr. Kristyn Brandi, OB-GYN and a board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Vox: "Patients do not ask for abortions during work and doctors do not provide them. "

The controversy surrounding the bill continued when Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, questioned about the bill during a radio interview, said that if a mother gave birth, "the baby would be delivered . The baby would stay comfortable. The child would be resuscitated if that was what the mother and family wanted, and a discussion ensued between the doctors and the mother. "

Some have taken these comments as an endorsement of infanticide. A spokesman for the governor said that he was "absolutely not" referring to infanticide, but his remarks have led President Trump and others to repeatedly assert that American doctors were killing babies after birth and that legislation was needed to put an end to it.

9) Abortion laws do not allow babies to be killed after birth

In fact, no abortion law – neither the Virginia bill, nor the New York law, nor any other law – allows doctors to kill babies after birth. It's already illegal everywhere in the United States.

10) The majority of abortions occur early in pregnancy

Although many recent discussions have focused on abortions occurring later in pregnancy ("late abortion" is not a medically accurate expression), more than 90% of abortions occur in the first trimester, or about all three. first months.

According to Planned Parenthood, only 1.4% of abortions take place at 21 weeks of gestation or later.

Patients who wish to abort later during their pregnancy may have recently discovered the existence of a serious fetal abnormality, some of which are only discovered 20 weeks later. Others may have had trouble getting to a clinic.

"I am in a center where I am the state's referral center, and patients seeking care elsewhere can then be referred to me and I am often within hours of where they initially sought care. Brandi told Vox. earlier this year. "So they took a while to get up to see me. This includes not only the time it takes to come here, but also childcare, transportation, for those that they already have. There are so many different types of barriers that are created for health care in general, but especially for abortion care. "