Dem
51
GOP
49
A new study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, has findings that cannot make anyone happy, regardless of where they stand on abortion access. Working with data from various governmental sources, the authors conclude that since the Dobbs decision, the 14 states with the harshest abortion bans have seen roughly 520,000 rapes, resulting in 64,565 pregnancies.
Undoubtedly, you can guess what's coming next. In these states, it is either the case that: (1) rape is not a legal justification for an abortion or (2) that medical professionals are extremely leery of performing abortions in cases of rape, even if they are legally allowed to do so, because they could lose their licenses if some bureaucrat later decides that the evidence of rape is not strong enough. According to the research, these 14 states are averaging less than 10 abortions a month, a figure that includes medically necessary procedures, in addition to rapes and incest. The upshot is that virtually no impregnated rape victims are able to abort their pregnancies—at least, not without traveling or otherwise arranging out-of-state assistance.
In a very related note, Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century announced recently that it's going to spend $200 million on the 2024 election cycle, with an emphasis on advertising targeted at women voters in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and potentially North Carolina. The PAC has already offered a preview of the ads' content, which "will feature the true stories of women voters and their families" who have been harmed by Donald Trump's agenda. If there aren't a bunch of testimonial ads, in which women talk about medical care they could not get, or rape-induced pregnancies they were forced to carry to term, or other such consequences of Dobbs, we will be very surprised, indeed. (Z)