A new study says that nearly 65,000 survivors of rape in states with abortion bans have become pregnant since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
A comprehensive study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has shed light on the alarming consequences of total abortion bans implemented in 14 states following the controversial Dobbs decision.
The study, published Wednesday, conducted by researchers analyzing data from July 1, 2022, to January 1, 2024, found that 519,981 completed rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies during the 4 to 18 months that these bans were in effect.
Only 5,586 of the rape-related pregnancies, or 9%, occurred in states with rape exceptions to their abortion bans.
Of significant concern is the fact that 91% of these rape-related pregnancies occurred in states with no exception for rape, with Texas alone accounting for 45% of these cases.
The remaining 9% of pregnancies were estimated to have occurred in states with rape exceptions. The study further highlights that in total abortion-ban states, legal abortions were extremely rare, with 10 or fewer occurring each month.
The states the study looked at were Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia
“More than 26,000 Texans are estimated to have become pregnant as a result of rape since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association,” said civil rights advocate Lisa McCormick. “That is the greatest number among the 14 states that enacted total abortion bans after the stacked Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, and it is cause for outrage.”
“No woman anywhere should be forced to birth her rapists’ baby,” said McCormick, who recounted a story in Time magazine about a juvenile rape survivor in Mississippi who had a baby when she was 13 years old, shortly before she started seventh grade.
“Democrats have raised money on the issue of reproductive freedom for decades but the political establishment has failed survivors of rape, especially in states with abortion bans,” said McCormick. ”These are 65,000 lives ruined by laws that violate the Fourth Amendment and ignore common sense.”
“The reversal of Roe v. Wade has resulted in 21 restrictive abortion bans being enacted in states nationwide, and notably, several of these bans lack exceptions for cases of rape or incest,” said McCormick. “This represents the highly conservative agenda that Republicans seek to enforce across all states through a comprehensive national abortion ban.”
“It’s disheartening to observe that despite many Democratic politicians using this issue for fundraising purposes, there has been a terrible failure to champion the right to choose or work towards reinstating the safeguards provided by Roe v. Wade through federal legislation,” said McCormick, who has equated abortion bans with slavery.
“The Supreme Court’s decision means women will be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term,” said McCormick. “America was once the land of slavery. Today, America is the land of forced birth.”
The researchers utilized the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2016 to 2017 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence survey, employing special methods to accurately ascertain reported and unreported rapes. Adjustments were made for factors such as the percentage of survivors who were female individuals aged 15 to 45 years, using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ annual survey on criminal victimization.
Five of the states studied have exceptions for rape but require the assaults to be reported to law enforcement. Women are most likely to experience sexual assault at the hands of intimate partners or acquaintances; only about 1 in 5 rapes are committed by strangers, according to Justice Department statistics.
The study emphasizes the severe limitations faced by survivors of rape in states with abortion bans, even those with supposed rape exceptions. The stringent gestational duration limits and the requirement to report the rape to law enforcement, a condition that disqualifies most survivors, create significant barriers to accessing legal abortions.
The researchers argue that the large number of estimated rape-related pregnancies in states with total abortion bans, combined with the minimal legal abortion options available, suggests a critical failure in providing reasonable access to abortion for survivors. Many girls and women in these states may resort to self-managed abortions or face the daunting task of traveling long distances to states where abortion is legal.
While the study acknowledges its limitations, such as the difficulty in accurately measuring highly stigmatized experiences like sexual violence, it underscores the urgent need to reevaluate policies that restrict access to abortion, particularly for survivors of rape.
The findings call into question the effectiveness of rape exceptions in providing practical alternatives for those facing unwanted pregnancies due to sexual violence in states with stringent abortion bans.