Abortion in North Carolina fell by over 30% this summer after the US state enacted a 12-week abortion ban and a 72-hour waiting period in July.
On 1 July, North Carolina reduced the period for legal abortion to 12 weeks. While there were 4,200 abortions in June, in July there were 2,920, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Under the new legislation, women seeking an abortion must also consult an abortion provider in person at least 72 hours before the abortion.
Nearby pro-abortion states did not see a corresponding rise in abortion, suggesting that the abortions that couldn’t take place in North Carolina were not transferred elsewhere.
The Guttmacher Institute, which collects US abortion data, could not clarify whether it was the 12-week abortion limit or the 72-hour waiting period that contributed most to the 30% drop in abortion.
A 2023 study found that there were cumulatively 32,260 fewer abortions in the US between July to December 2022 when compared with state figures before the repeal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court, lauded as a “momentous day” by SPUC, allowed individual states to decide their own abortion laws.
Pro-life “trigger” laws consequently came into effect, while other states moved to enact similar legislation, with Florida passing a 6-week abortion limit.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “In North Carolina and other pro-life states we see the real-world effect of pro-life laws protecting thousands of unborn children. It is wonderful that so many boys and girls are alive today as a direct result of the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“That the pro-abortion narrative complains about this says more about its own motivations than it does about the pro-life movement, which ultimately wants to save lives.
“We in the UK can take heart and inspiration from the example of North Carolina. SPUC is determined to make a world where abortion is unthinkable. That work has already begun.”
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