A study published in 'JAMA Internal Medicine 'estimates there have been over 64,565 rape-related pregnancies in states that have banned the medical procedure.
A study assessing how abortion bans impact survivors of sexual assault estimates that there have been over 64,565 rape-related pregnancies in states that have banned the medical procedure.
That estimate comes from a study that appears in the Jan. 24 issue of the peer-reviewed "JAMA Internal Medicine."
A team of researchers led by Dr. Samuel Dickman — an abortion provider who is the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Montana — arrived at this estimate by analyzing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Centers for Disease Control. The study notes that the researchers had to rely on national agencies for these numbers because no state-level data is available.
"To estimate rape-related pregnancies, we multiplied the state-level estimate of vaginal rapes by the fraction likely to result in pregnancy and then adjusted for the number of months between July 1, 2022, and January 1, 2024, that a total abortion ban was in effect," the study says.
The study also only included survivors between the ages of 15 and 45.
That time period represents the 18 months since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.
In the wake of that decision, 14 states issued a total abortion ban. Five of those states (Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and North Dakota) make an exception for rape, while the other nine (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas) make no exception.
The study broke down the data further to estimate that 58,979 — or 91 percent — of those rape-related pregnancies occurred in the nine states with no exception for rape. And with an estimated 26,313 rape-related pregnancies, Texas alone accounted for 45 percent of the total, according to the study.
The researchers also say that 10 or fewer legal abortions occurred monthly in each of the total abortion-ban states.
"Survivors of rape who become pregnant in states with abortion bans may seek a self-managed abortion or try to travel (often hundreds of miles) to a state where abortion is legal, leaving many without a practical alternative to carrying the pregnancy to term," the study says while discussing the possible implications of these estimates.
The researchers do say that because rape is so stigmatized and reported by just 21 percent of survivors, according to the BJS, there are limitations to the estimates in the study, but then note: "Nonetheless, the large number of estimated rape-related pregnancies in abortion ban states compared with the 10 or
fewer legal abortions per month occurring in each of those states indicates that persons who have been raped and become pregnant cannot access legal abortions in their home state, even in states with rape exceptions."
In March, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas on behalf of two doctors and five women who were "denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state fear liability under Texas's abortion bans."
By November, the number of female plaintiffs had grown to 20.
Just this week, first lady Dr. Jill Biden announced that one of those plaintiffs, Katie Cox, would be attending the State of the Union as her guest.
Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has spent the past year trying to block the few court-approved abortions that were granted by judges in the state.
