In states with abortion bans, more than 64,000 women and girls became pregnant due to rape. Roe v. Wade A new study published online on Wednesday estimates that it has been canceled.
research letter published by JAMA Internal Medicine and an estimate led by the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Montana estimated that nearly 520,000 rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies in 14 states, most of which did not have exemptions allowing termination of pregnancies resulting from rape.
Texas tops the list, with 45% of rape-related pregnancies occurring within the state, researchers estimate. According to the researchers, 91 percent of the estimated rape pregnancies occurred in states with no rape exemptions.
“Few (if any)” of women and girls who became pregnant due to rape “obtained legal abortions in the state, suggesting that rape exemptions do not provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors,” the research letter said.
The researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI to generate their estimates.
One of the authors of the study, executive and scientific director of the pro-abortion rights group Resound Research for reproductive health.
“Unfortunately, I think it reflects how common rape is in the United States,” she said.
Sexual violence affects millions of people in the United States each year. according to CDC. According to the CDC, more than half of women and nearly 1 in 3 men have experienced physical sexual assault.
Abortion bans also “impede people’s ability to make very personal decisions about their reproductive health,” White said.
“And especially for rape survivors, you know, their reproductive autonomy is already compromised, and public policy further hinders their ability to make health care decisions,” she said.
Twelve states reportedly have almost complete bans on abortion Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights organization. While not banned in Wisconsin or North Dakota, legal uncertainty in Wisconsin and the decision to move by North Dakota’s only abortion clinic have made abortion access more difficult in the two states, the institute said.
Supreme Court was rejected In June 2022, Roe v. The landmark decision against Wade ends decades of precedent. The court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health also led to a wave of states restricting or banning abortions.
It has since the Dobbs decision increase in patients who cross state lines to obtain an abortion. In the first half of 2023, 1 in 5 people seeking an abortion went to other states for abortion treatment. research The Guttmacher Institute published in December.
President Joe Biden discussed expanding reproductive rights as part of his re-election bid; he traveled to Virginia On Tuesday, Roe v. To reiterate his position that the protections afforded by Wade have become law. He has repeatedly said that if Congress passes a bill to restore the abortion protections provided by Roe, he will sign it.