9 July 6-12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ ABORTION ABORTIONS DOWN TEXAS SAW SHARPEST DECLINE IN ABORTION AFTER ROE OVERTURNED ONE YEAR AGO. BY SIMONE CARTER T he number of abortions in the U.S. has dropped since last June’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, and the Lone Star State led the way with the steepest decline. That’s according to data from the na- tional abortion reporting effort #WeCount by the Society of Family Planning. The June 15 report found that in the nine months fol- lowing the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which over- turned Roe, the number of legal abortions in Texas plummeted by roughly 23,340. “It wasn’t a surprise to me, but it defi- nitely was a punch in the gut,” said Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, a Dallas obstetrician-gy- necologist. Before the 2021 passage of Senate Bill 8, the state’s near-total abortion ban, Texas was one of the country’s leading states for abortion care, Moayedi said. She said it makes sense that Texas would have the sharpest decline, especially since peo- ple from states like Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas would consistently travel here for help. Moayedi is the founder of the community health resource Pegasus Health Justice Cen- ter. She said the landscape for abortion care in the region significantly shifted after SB 8. Texans in need of abortions flooded clin- ics in neighboring states where the proce- dure was still offered, she said. In turn, people from those states had a harder time accessing care. In February 2022, Planned Parenthood reported a nearly 800% spike in abortion pa- tients from Texas at health centers in sur- rounding states. After Oklahoma banned abortion in spring 2022, the closest clinic within driving dis- tance was in Wichita, Kansas, Moayedi said — roughly five-and-a-half hours from Dallas. Anti-abortion legislation from Texas’ Re- publican-majority Legislature inspired similar laws nationwide. There were around 25,640 fewer abortions across the country in the nine months after Dobbs, compared with April 2022, according to the #WeCount report. Other states where abortion is now illegal also witnessed post-Dobbs abortion declines, the report found. Georgia saw 15,720 fewer abortions and Tennessee had 10,100 fewer. The Society of Family Planning noted that other areas experienced an influx of out-of- state patients. Florida, for instance, counted around 12,460 more clinician-provided abor- tions in the nine-month period examined. Dr. Amna Dermish with Planned Parent- hood of Greater Texas told the Observer via email that the state’s ban has led to confusion, both for patients facing health risks and for providers who aren’t certain whether “the care they need to provide is legal or not.” As a result, several Texas women and doctors have filed suit against the state. Some plaintiffs claim they were denied medically necessary abortions under the ban, which allows for termination only to save the life of the pregnant person. Critics have blasted the medical exception defini- tion as overly vague. 600 S. Center Street, Arlington, TX 76010 utacollegepark.com JULY 7 JULY 12-16 JULY 22 More Events Entertainment in the CENTER of DFW
