By Samuel L. Dickman, M.D.; Kari White, Ph.D.; David U. Himmelstein, M.D.; Emily Lupez, M.D.; Elizabeth Schrier, M.D.; Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H.
JAMA Internal Medicine, January 24, 2024
Many US women report experiencing sexual violence, and many seek abortion for rape-related pregnancies. Following the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs) decision overturning Roe v Wade, 14 states have outlawed abortion at any gestational duration. Although 5 of these states allow exceptions for rape-related pregnancies, stringent gestational duration limits apply, and survivors must report the rape to law enforcement, a requirement likely to disqualify most survivors of rape, of whom only 21% report their rape to police.
Post Dobbs, 10 or fewer legal abortions occurred monthly in each of the total abortion ban states. We estimated rape-related pregnancies by state to assess how abortion bans affected survivors of rape.
Results: In the 14 states that implemented total abortion bans following the Dobbs decision, we estimated that 519,981 completed rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies during the 4 to 18 months that bans were in effect. Of these, an estimated 5,586 rape-related pregnancies (9%) occurred in states with rape exceptions, and 58,979 (91%) in states with no exception, with 26,313 (45%) in Texas.
full study:
https://jamanetwork.com…