At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions, the study found

At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The number of abortion clinics in 15 states has dropped from 79 before the June 24 decision to 13 as of Oct. 2, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

All other 13 clinics are located in Georgia. Other states do not have providers that offer abortions, although some of their clinics offer services other than abortions.

The institute reported that in 2020 there were more than 800 abortion clinics in the country.

“Much more research is needed to understand all the chaos, confusion and harm the US Supreme Court has wrought on people who need abortions, but the picture that is beginning to emerge should alarm anyone who supports reproductive freedom and the right to bodily autonomy.” , said Rachel Jones, a researcher at Guttmacher.

The new report does not include data on hospitals and doctors who performed abortions and stopped them after the court ruling, but Jones noted that clinics in the U.S. perform the majority of abortions, including procedures and dispensing drugs to terminate pregnancies. The latest data from Guttmacher shows that just over half of abortions in the US are done with medication.

States with no abortion providers are concentrated in the South. In some of those places, many women seeking an abortion would have to travel so far that it would be impossible, Jones said.

Dr. Jeanne Corwin, who provides abortions in Indiana and Ohio, said closing the clinics “will cause immeasurable harm to women’s physical, mental and financial health.”

In several states, access is at risk because the bans have only been temporarily suspended by injunctions. Those include Indiana, Ohio and South Carolina, the analysis shows.

“It’s shaky from a medical standpoint and certainly from a business standpoint,” said Dr. Kathy McHugh, an OB-GYN who performs abortions in Indiana. you will become a criminal tomorrow.”