USA – Why accurate data on abortions matters — and why it’s so hard to collect

Jasmine Mithani
February 27, 2023

Collecting abortion data has always been difficult: People are often unwilling to share their experiences with researchers, and the United States has no centralized count of abortions performed. Every state collects data differently, and some refuse to share it with federal researchers due to privacy concerns. Sometimes researchers have to estimate abortion incidence based on historical trends because up-to-date data isn’t available.

It’s a challenge with broad implications for information on reproductive health, one that has been compounded by the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which allowed states to ban abortion. Less accurate abortion data means less information to share with policymakers about the impacts of restrictions — but also spills over into many areas of public health.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2023/02/abortion-data-rates-after-dobbs/

How the Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision Left Many Youth Behind

BY ALEX BERG
DECEMBER 20, 2022

After having an abortion two years ago, B (whose name is withheld for privacy) didn’t think much about her experience with the procedure. As a 17 year-old at the time with a couple of months to go before her high school graduation, she “put it out of sight.” That was until June 24, 2022, the day the Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

“It really snapped me back into reality from it,” B, now 19, tells Teen Vogue.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-the-supreme-courts-abortion-decision-left-many-youth-behind