In a new nationwide study of the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on births, researchers found significant increases in births in states with abortion bans, including Wisconsin.
In June 2022, the Dobbs decision overturned the federal right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade, leaving it to individual states to determine the legality of abortion. The decision reactivated an 1849 Wisconsin law interpreted by some as banning nearly all abortions. Abortion providers in the state stopped offering services for fear of criminal prosecution while courts determined whether the law was enforceable. (A Dane County judge has since ruled that the 1849 law does not prohibit abortions and some providers in Wisconsin have resumed abortion services.)
The Dobbs decision is the latest of many abortion restrictions in Wisconsin to undermine reproductive autonomy in our state.
Using birth data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, economists Daniel Dench, Mayra Pineda-Torres, and Caitlin Myers found a 2.3% average increase in births in states with abortion bans compared to states where abortion access is protected.
The study focused on the first six months of 2023, comparing those months to birth data and trends starting in 2005. The authors used techniques to establish which 2023 births, if any, were caused by the Dobbs decision and were likely unintended births for which an abortion could not be obtained.
Across states, the researchers found larger impacts of the bans on non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women. Consistent with previous studies and trends, women of color are more constrained by abortion restrictions than white women due to a host of factors including structural racism, relative economic insecurity, and underlying health disparities.
The study estimated that, in Wisconsin, an additional 1,503 births took place in the first half of 2023 due to the Dobbs decision. This finding means that at least 250 Wisconsinites every single month were back-ended into carrying pregnancies to term who would not have done so before the Dobbs decision.
While the authors did not provide a demographic breakdown of these additional Wisconsin births, we know that most Wisconsin abortion seekers live on low incomes; they also disproportionately identify as people of color. Thus, the Wisconsinites most negatively impacted by Dobbs and other abortion restrictions are those individuals and families who already face the most significant systemic inequities, including economic insecurity and racism.
In the first half of 2023, at least 250 Wisconsinites every single month were back-ended into carrying pregnancies to term who would not have done so before the Dobbs decision.
The authors point out that pre-Dobbs abortion access was already compromised in many states, including Wisconsin. In prior CORE research, Joanna Venator and Jason Fletcher documented an increase in births in parts of Wisconsin that lost the most access to abortion care following the closure of abortion clinics in 2010-2017.
In other words, while Dobbs has had a notable impact, birth rates had already been higher in Wisconsin and other restricted states than they would have been with greater abortion access.
The ability to access compassionate, affordable abortion care is a critical part of reproductive autonomy. Dobbs is the latest of many abortion restrictions in Wisconsin to undermine reproductive autonomy in our state.