Springfield | It’s been two years since the U. S. Supreme Court’s historic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade which had guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion. While pro-life forces in many states welcomed the decision, the Illinois legislative majority criticized the new limitations and began promoting “abortion access” in the state. The tactic worked, with nearly 91,000 abortions reported in the state in the calendar year 2023—a 60% increase over 2022.
On the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, just six months’ worth of data was available to demonstrate its effects. Here in Illinois, abortions rose from almost 52,000 in 2021 to 56,457 in 2022. Comparing calendar year 2021 (without Dobbs’ limitations in neighboring states) and 2023 (with Dobbs’ limitations) abortions in Illinois increased a staggering 75%.
Since the ruling known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—or as it is commonly called, the Dobbs decision—gave individual states the freedom to pass their own laws regarding abortion access, Governor J.B. Pritzker and Democrat representatives in the General Assembly have pledged to make the state an abortion safe-haven. The latest statistics from Guttmacher Institute, which supports “abortion rights,” bear that out.
Guttmacher estimates there were 90,600 clinician provided abortions in Illinois in 2023, the first full year since the Dobbs decision. That’s an average of 7,670 abortions each day over the last six months. The number includes both procedural and medication abortions. The month with the highest number of estimated abortions was March with 8,200, with the lowest in February at 7,170. Guttmacher also reports a 71.5% increase in clinician-provided abortions since 2020.
Women from at least 16 states traveled to Illinois to undergo an abortion. The states with the highest number of women receiving abortions were Missouri – 8,710, Tennessee – 7,120, Indiana – 5,420, Wisconsin – 5,240, Mississippi – 2,060, Arkansas – 2,040, Kentucky – 1,850, and Texas – 1, 570.
Pro-choice state legislators introduced 248 abortion-related actions since 2023. Guttmacher rates Illinois’ abortion policies as “protective” along with 10 other states.