The Ban That Increased Abortion

The pro-life movement spent 50 years fighting to overturn Roe v. Wade. They organized. They lobbied. They campaigned. They voted. They prayed. They wanted abortion to end.

In June 2022, they got what they wanted. The Supreme Court struck down Roe. Trigger bans went into effect across the country. Abortion was criminalized in state after state.

And then abortion rates went up.

In 2024, there were approximately 1.14 million abortions in the United States. Higher than before Dobbs. Higher than any point in the previous decade. Abortion rates had been declining for 30 years. The pro-life movement won their legal battle. The rates reversed.

Monthly averages climbed from 88,180 in 2023 to 95,250 in 2024 to 98,630 in early 2025. The rate has plateaued. But the picture is clear: criminalizing abortion didn’t eliminate it. It increased it.

Bans are supposed to reduce the thing they ban. The pro-life movement was certain that overturning Roe would end abortion in America. Instead, there are more abortions now than when abortion was legal nationwide.

Abortion rates peaked in the early 1980s. They fell steadily for three decades. Better contraception. Better sex education. Better healthcare access. The decline happened everywhere, including in countries with legal abortion. It wasn’t about legal restrictions. It was about access and support.

The pro-life movement spent those decades claiming credit for the decline. They said their advocacy was working. They said legal restrictions reduced abortion. They were wrong. The decline happened despite legal restrictions, not because of them.

Then Dobbs happened. The legal landscape changed overnight. The practical reality didn’t. Medication abortion existed. Telehealth existed. Travel existed. The pro-life movement had spent 50 years fighting a legal battle while technology created an entirely new battlefield.

Medication abortion accounted for 25% of all abortions by December 2024. Up from 19% a year earlier. Mifepristone and misoprostol are widely available. Telehealth makes access easier. Mail-order pills from states where abortion is legal. Shield laws in at least eight states protect providers who serve patients across state lines. The ban can’t stop what can be shipped.

The pro-life movement was fighting the last war. They thought the battle was in clinics. They thought shutting down clinics would end abortion. They didn’t account for medication abortion. They didn’t account for Telehealth. They didn’t account for the fact that abortion can now happen in a bedroom, prescribed by a doctor in another state and delivered by mail.

Technology outpaced them. They won the legal battle and lost the technological one.

People travel to legal states. Cross-state travel for abortions nearly doubled from 81,100 in 2020 to 154,900 in 2024. Texas banned abortion. Texans travel to New Mexico. Idaho banned abortion. Idahoans travel to Washington. The abortion still happens. It’s just more burdensome. The wealthy can travel. The poor can’t. The ban created inequality, not elimination.

Early 2025 shows decline in some areas. Florida implemented a 6-week ban and saw a 27% decrease in abortions within the state. Nationally, the rate plateaued. But the numbers don’t capture Telehealth abortions from shield-law states. People in Florida getting pills from providers in states that protect them. The decrease in one state doesn’t mean fewer abortions overall. It means abortions moved elsewhere.

The pro-life movement will point to Florida and claim victory. But the national rate remains elevated above pre-Dobbs levels. People found other ways.

The movement spent 50 years on legal strategy. They spent almost no time understanding why people get abortions. They didn’t study the causes. They didn’t develop solutions. They wanted to ban the procedure, not address the underlying problem. They got the ban. They didn’t get the result.

Pro-life states rank lowest in support for pregnant people, children, and families. No paid family leave. No universal healthcare. Underfunded foster care systems. Limited adoption support. Worst maternal mortality rates. Highest infant mortality rates. The states that claim to value life provide the least support for life.

Louisiana has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. It also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates. Mississippi banned abortion. It ranks last in child well-being. Texas banned abortion. It refused to expand Medicaid. The pattern is clear. The movement claimed to value life. It opposed every policy that would support life. Healthcare. Paid leave. Childcare. Contraception. Sex education. They wanted to ban abortion without addressing why people need abortion.

People abort because they can’t afford children. The cost of raising a child. The cost of childcare. The cost of healthcare. The cost of lost wages. The cost of interrupted education. The cost of careers that never recover. Pro-life states make it harder to afford children. No minimum wage increases. No Medicaid expansion. No childcare support. No paid leave. The economics push people toward abortion. The pro-life movement opposes the very policies that would reduce abortion.

They want to force birth. They don’t want to support life after birth.

The movement claims to want to end abortion. But many pro-life advocates also oppose contraception access. They oppose comprehensive sex education. They oppose the policies that prevent abortion. The movement isn’t about reducing abortion. It’s about controlling sexuality. It’s about punishing women for sex.

Pro-life advocates don’t advocate for forcing fathers to support children. No legislation forcing paternal responsibility. No campaigns to make men financially accountable for unwanted pregnancies. The burden falls entirely on the pregnant person. They want to force the woman to give birth. They don’t want to force the man to support the child. The movement claims to value life. It values women’s compliance.

Countries with legal abortion and strong support systems have lower abortion rates than countries with bans. The Netherlands. Belgium. Germany. Legal abortion. Strong support. Low rates. Countries with bans have higher rates. Brazil. Egypt. Philippines. Criminalization doesn’t reduce abortion. It makes it more dangerous. The evidence is clear. The pro-life movement ignored it.

Wealthy people in pro-life states can travel. They can get medication abortion. They can access healthcare. They can afford the time off work. Poor people can’t. The ban is a tax on the poor. The wealthy have options. The poor have forced birth. Politicians who vote for abortion bans often have access to abortions themselves. Or their families do. They want to ban it for others while keeping options for themselves. The ban is for the poor. The wealthy will always have options.

Later abortions because of travel delays. More dangerous procedures. More stress on pregnant people. Doctors afraid to provide necessary care. Women dying from preventable causes. Pro-life laws claim to have medical exceptions. But doctors are afraid to use them. The legal risk is too high. Women are denied necessary medical care.

Amanda Zurawski. Kate Cox. Brittany Watts. Women denied care. Women whose health was sacrificed for a political agenda. The movement claims to value life. It values fetal life over born life. It values ideology over women’s health.

Pro-life advocates claimed banning abortion would increase births. It didn’t. Birth rates continued to decline. People don’t want to be forced into parenthood. If you want more births, support families. Paid leave. Healthcare. Childcare. Economic security. The pro-life movement opposes all of it. They got the forced birth. They didn’t get more births.

Younger generations are more pro-choice. The Dobbs decision galvanized young voters. The pro-life movement is losing the cultural battle even as they won the legal one. They have the courts. They don’t have the public.

The pro-life position is primarily religious. They’re imposing religious beliefs on a secular society. They claim to care about life. They’re imposing a specific religious view about sexuality and women’s role. Not everyone shares that religion. Not everyone shares that interpretation. The movement wants to force everyone to live by their religious rules.

The pro-life movement won. They got what they wanted. Roe was overturned. Abortion was banned in state after state.

And abortion rates went up.

1.14 million abortions in 2024. More than any point in the previous decade. Criminalization was supposed to eliminate abortion. It increased it.

They wanted the legal victory. They didn’t want the practical solution. They got the legal victory. They proved their own approach wrong.

Bans don’t reduce abortion. Support does. Healthcare does. Economic security does. Contraception does. Sex education does. The pro-life movement could have spent 50 years fighting for those things. They could have reduced abortion by supporting people. Instead, they fought for criminalization. They won. And abortion increased.

They got exactly what they asked for. They didn’t get what they claimed to want.

The silence from pro-life advocates is deafening. Where are the statements acknowledging failure? Where are the calls for new approaches? Where are the questions about why criminalization increased the thing it was supposed to eliminate?

They won’t ask. They won’t question. They won’t adjust.

Because the movement was never about reducing abortion. It was about controlling women. It was about punishing sexuality. It was about imposing religious rules.

They got that. They didn’t get fewer abortions.

They got what they actually wanted.

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