On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, which protected abortion rights, 55 years after its legalization. The issue has been highly politicized; however, this article will not focus on which view is right or wrong but instead on the reality of how banning abortions will affect people who can get pregnant, predominantly those in minority communities.
Who gets abortions?
Abortion happens across all demographics, but it is more common among younger people and people of color. Over half of abortion patients are in their 20s, and 31% are in their 30s. Abortion is much less common among people in their teens and 40s, accounting for 9% and 4%, respectively. Among adolescents, those aged 18 to 19 make up 70.2% of abortions. Only 0.2% of all abortion patients are younger than 15.
Non-Hispanic Black people get abortions at disproportionately high rates, accounting for 38% of abortions but less than 14% of the population. Contrarily, non-Hispanic white people, despite making up almost 62% of the population, account for 33% of abortions.
Abortions are more common among women in the LGBTQ+ community than among heterosexual women. In a survey cited by the Human Rights Campaign, almost 23% of women who had gotten an abortion were lesbian, and over 27% were bisexual. In comparison, only 15% were exclusively heterosexual.
Approximately one in four people who can get pregnant will have an abortion at some point in their life. About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, 42% of which end in abortion. Despite abortion being common in the United States, it has seen a general decline since the Roe v Wade ruling in 1973.
Why do people get abortions?
Multiple factors influence a person’s decision to go through with an abortion. The most common reasons for an abortion are financial, at 40%; half of those who get abortions live below the federal poverty level. Another 12% list their reason for abortion as not being able to provide a good enough life to the child.
Of the 31% citing partner-related reasons as their primary factor, 8% say they want to be married first; 85% of those who have abortions are unmarried. Another 29% say they need to focus on their other children; 60% of abortion patients already have at least one other child.
Of the 12% of abortion patients that listed health as their main reason, 6% did so for their own health, while 5% did so for the fetus’s health.
How do Americans view abortion?
While Americans are divided on the issue, abortion does have the majority support under certain circumstances. In 2018, 83% of surveyed Americans agreed that abortion should be legal in the first three months if the pregnant person’s life is in danger, and 67% agreed if the child would be born with a life-threatening illness.
More generally, 61% of American adults think abortion should be legal, and 37% believe it should be illegal in all or most cases. While over half of both women and men think it should be legal in most cases, women (63%) are slightly more likely than men (58%) to think so. Black and Asian adults are also more likely to say abortion should be legal, with 68% and 74% in support, respectively. 60% of white and Hispanic adults agree that abortion should be legal.
As of May 2022, 58% of Americans did not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, while only 37% did.
How will abortion bans affect people who can get pregnant?
Now that many states will not allow abortions, the U.S. is expected to see higher poverty rates and pregnancy-related deaths. People who would have otherwise gotten an abortion but had to carry the pregnancy full-term are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty level than those who had the abortion. This fact is even more true for LGBTQ+ pregnant people, who are more likely to be living in poverty than cis-heterosexual people.
Pregnancy comes with its own dangers, which are more likely to affect Black and brown women due to medical bias. When abortion was initially legalized, Black maternal mortality rates decreased by over 30%. Researchers have estimated that annual pregnancy-related deaths will increase by 21% after abortion is banned. The percentage goes up to 33% for non-Hispanic Black people and 18% for Hispanic people. These percentages do not count the number of people who will die from illegal, unsafe abortions.
People denied abortions are also more likely to stay bound to abusive partners. This is especially true among the LGBTQ+ community. Among lesbian women who want an abortion, over 33% experience physical and or sexual abuse from the person who got them pregnant. The same is true for under 4% of heterosexual women.
Statistics have consistently proven that overturning Roe v. Wade will impact marginalized communities more. Now that the Supreme Court has made this a reality, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community are among those who will be hit the hardest.
The overturn of Roe v Wade is a tragedy of great proportions.. Just seems like more Government control of our lives. The Gov does not know best. and does not work in our best interests.