Study finds more people coming to Massachusetts for abortions after Supreme Court ruling

By adamg on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 7:38pm

Researchers who looked at data from Massachusetts Planned Parenthood clinics from 2018 through October, 2022 found a small but significant increase in the number of people coming into Massachusetts for abortions following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision in June, 2022, even though we don't border any states where abortion is now banned.

The Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts performs roughly 50% of all the abortions in the state.

The researchers, from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, found that:

After Dobbs, there was a 6.2% (95% PI, 0.3%-12.9%) increase in the total number of abortions above the expected, equivalent to an estimated 190 additional abortions overall. During that period, there was an estimated 37.5% (95% PI, 7.8%-79.4%) increase in the number of abortions among out-of-state residents above expected, an estimated 45 additional abortions among out-of-state residents.

They added:

Although we cannot rule out that these results were not associated with Dobbs, the rapid and disproportionate increase in out-of-state patients at the largest provider of abortion care in Massachusetts may reflect initial changes associated with the Dobbs decision in states distant from restrictive states.

They said tracking the numbers becomes critical because it can "help the abortion service infrastructure adapt to the new legal landscape and provide supportive, prompt access for all patients seeking abortion regardless of their state of residence."

Free tagging:

abortion

Planned Parenthood

healthcare

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Comments

A reminder

By Polybius on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 7:43pm.

It's your moral duty to distract, obstruct, or otherwise fuck with* the religious freaks outside the clinics so that people seeking treatment can do so with minimal interference

*DISCLAIMER: in only legal ways, of course

It’s the few who …

By Lee on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 9:38pm.

… can afford to cross so far over state lines.

Cheaper and convenient

By BostonDog on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 10:08pm.

Part of the explanation could just be that there are more flights to Boston and clinics close to the airport (or public transportation) than many other nearby states.

Doubt that

By ScottB on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 2:41am.

Abortion remains legal in Illinois and Chicago gets way, way more air service than Boston, with better transit links at its airports to boot. Same for New York/NYC but Chicago has more air service to places where abortion is now illegal or more limited.

Probably more a matter of women going somewhere where they know someone locally and might have a place to stay for a day or two.

I lived in Boston for 10 years

By AP on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 9:21am.

and now I live in a Southern "heartbeat" state. I would think that the number of people who either grew up in MA or rotated through the many colleges in MA helps skew this. It's easier to access services and care in a familiar city, plus that makes it more likely that they have friends or family members nearby to help them out.

Once you have decided to pay for airfare, pretty much every city in the Northeast plus Chicago is a similar length flight and price from the Southeast. And if you're in a restricted state that's "landlocked" by other restricted states, the drive to the nearest safe harbor might be substantially longer than a flight to a city that's further away.

Finally, since appointments at clinics that border restrictive states tend to be swamped, it might be faster to get an appointment if you're willing to travel past the border states.

There are ways around that

By lbb on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 9:05am.

Those who care about helping women in need of healthcare know what they are.

45 total addition of which

By Ben on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 10:10pm.

45 total addition of which they don't break out how many were for women from states with restrictions? Seems awfully close to rounding error.

If the conclusion fits, it

By Rwgfy on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 6:50am.

If the conclusion fits, it doesn't matter how big the confidence interval is.

Please

By lbb on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 9:06am.

You right wing chuckleheads should stick to trying to con your rube followers. It doesn't work on people of normal intelligence.

Sadly, probably not a relevant finding

By burzmali on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 6:51am.

You don't often catch them in the wild, but with such a weak p-value, peeking at the supporting data, there is a significant chance this result is a p-hack. The monthly data is all over the place and if you tweak the parameters slightly, the effect moves from significant to not fairly quickly.