Abortions in Texas dropped almost 60% in the first month after new SB 8 restrictions were imposed

Texas Health and Human Services released updated statistics Monday showing the number of abortions reported in the state decreased almost 60% in the first month after new restrictions went into effect.

The state reported 2,197 induced terminations of pregnancies for September of 2021, following 5,404 in August, the last month before Senate Bill 8 took effect. Notably, in September there were only two induced abortions performed after six weeks of gestation, which the new law allows only under medical exemptions.

Texas Right to Life, an organization that opposes abortion access, said in a statement, “the success of the Texas Heartbeat Act is embodied by every child saved.”

“For over 150 days, our work has saved an estimated 100 babies per day. Our impact is only just beginning as more states seek to replicate our success and as we look to the Mississippi case that could overturn Roe this summer,” director of media and communication Kimberlyn Schwartz said in the statement.

Another organization which opposes abortions in the state, Texas Alliance for Life, said in a recent tweet that the decline in abortions in the state “has us celebrating.”

Since SB 8 was enacted, women across Texas have gone to nearby states to obtain legal elective abortions. The Dallas Morning News reported that women traveled to Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana to obtain legal abortions.

The law has experienced many legal challenges. Most recently, the plaintiff Whole Woman’s Health case was sent from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to the Texas Supreme Court to certify a question of state law regarding medical licensing officials’ enforcement of the abortion law.