Abortions in the state of Texas fell by nearly two-thirds after the state’s sweeping pro-life law went into effect last year.
The new law makes it illegal for a child to be aborted once cardiac activity is detected in the baby, which, per the Associated Press, typically happens around six weeks. The law contains exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, there were 5,400 abortions in the state in August of 2021. This was the last month before the law took effect.
In September of 2021, the very next month, this number fell by 60% to 2,200 abortions in the state.
The law was immediately controversial and was challenged in court until it eventually found its way to the Supreme Court.
With a tenuous conservative majority, the Supreme Court refused to take the case, allowing the law to remain.
Pro-abortion activists claim that the law is too restrictive, and claim that women seeking abortions may now travel “hundreds of miles to clinics in neighboring states or farther,” which in turn allegedly causes “a blacklog of appointments in those places.”
Meanwhile, pro-life advocates have celebrated the law and believe the new numbers prove that the law is having its intended effect.
