- 60,000 rape-related pregnancies
- 14 states’ abortion restrictions studied
- Research highlights dire consequences
A study estimates that since the Roe v. Wade ruling, approximately 60,000 women in states where sexual assault is not recognized as a valid reason for an abortion have become pregnant due to rape.
A total of 64,000 pregnancies resulted from 519,981 assaults that occurred in 14 states with abortion restrictions between July 1, 2022, and January 1, 2024, according to research.
Approximately 58,979 of these, or 91 percent, occurred in states without exceptions for rape in abortion laws.
The study’s lead author, Montana abortion provider Dr. Samuel Dickman, described himself as “horrified” by the findings.
“To be confronted with such astronomical estimates in states where meaningful abortion access is nonexistent? It is difficult to grasp,” he stated.
Following the 2022 Dobbs decision by the United States Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade, fourteen states enacted near-total prohibitions on abortions at any stage of pregnancy.
Researchers from Montana, Texas, and New York analyzed multiple data sources to estimate reported and unreported rapes in states with total abortion prohibitions due to the lack of recent, reliable state-level data on the subject.
In addition, they approximated the number of resulting pregnancies using data from previous studies on the prevalence of pregnancies related to rape.
Calculating Rape-Related Pregnancies Post-Roe
The team used the CDC’s 2016-2017 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey to approximate the nationwide incidence of rapes. The survey estimated the number of sexual assaults that occurred without law enforcement notification and those that were not reported.
Subsequently, they employed FBI Uniform Crime Reports and Bureau of Justice Statistics data on criminal victimization to calculate the incidence of vaginal rapes against women aged 15-45 in the 14 states where abortion prohibitions were in effect.
Multiplying the state-level estimate of vaginal rapes by the proportion likely to result in pregnancy, they calculated the number of rape-related pregnancies; they then accounted for the number of months during which a total abortion prohibition was in effect between July 1, 2022, and January 1, 2024. The period differs between states.
Researchers estimated that 519,981 rapes occurred in the fourteen states that implemented comprehensive abortion bans.
Using CDC data, they determined that 12.5% of the assaults would lead to pregnancy.
This resulted in 64,565 pregnancies within the four to eighteen months the restrictions were enforced.
A total of 58,979 (91 percent) of these rape-related pregnancies occurred in states without exceptions. Whereas 5,586 (nine percent) occurred in states that had rape exceptions.
Texas accounted for 26,313 (or 45 percent) of these incidents.
Dr. Samuel Dickman, an abortion provider from Montana and the study’s lead author, was astounded by the team’s results.
“I was astounded,” he exclaimed. “In general, I was aware that sexual assault is extremely prevalent. However, to be confronted with such astronomical estimates in states where significant abortion access is nonexistent? It is difficult to comprehend.”
Consistently, patients of Dr. Dickman disclose to him that they conceived following a rape. However, he is aware that there are numerous others.
He told NPR, “There are undoubtedly a great number of rape survivors who become pregnant as a result and, for entirely understandable reasons, do not wish to disclose that fact to a medical provider they have just met.”
The research was featured in an issue of JAMA Network.
In the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision being overturned, the following fourteen states outlawed abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
North Dakota, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia are the states that do not have a rape exception.
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States Without Rape Exceptions for Abortion
Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas have no rape exceptions.
A co-author of the study, Dr. Rachel Perry, an OB-GYN professor at the University of California, Irvine, observed that not all women who become pregnant due to rape desire an abortion.
She stated, “We know that women who become pregnant following rape are more likely to choose abortion over continuing their pregnancies.”
In 2022, a 10-year-old Ohio girl was raped and had to fly to Indiana for an abortion.
At the time of the court’s decision, the child had reached nearly six and a half weeks of pregnancy and was therefore ineligible for an abortion in Ohio due to the state’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ law.
The case showed how new abortion restrictions hurt the most disadvantaged, according to abortion rights advocates.
