Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order temporarily halting abortions during the coronavirus pandemic last spring saved babies from abortion, according to a new study.
Written by abortionists and researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, the study found a 33-percent drop in abortions in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
While researchers also found an increase in second-trimester abortions in May 2020 after Abbott’s order was lifted, they said the order did prevent some women from getting abortions – meaning babies’ lives were saved.
LMT Online reports on March 22, 2020, Abbott ordered a temporary halt to all procedures that were not “medically necessary,” including elective abortions, to ensure medical equipment and workers were available for the COVID-19 pandemic. Abortion facilities challenged the order, but a court eventually ruled in favor of the state. Texas was allowed to enforce the order for several weeks.
During that time, the study found that more women traveled out of state to abort their unborn babies, but others remained pregnant.
Here’s more from the report:
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that during the ban, the number of abortions in Texas declined 38 percent in April 2020 — from 4,608 to 2,856 — compared to the same time the previous year.
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Meanwhile, the number of Texas residents receiving [abortions] at out-of-state facilities reviewed in the study increased from 157 in February 2020 to 947 in April 2020. …
Dr. Kari White, UT associate professor of social work and sociology and lead investigator of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, said the numbers indicate that the order both prevented some women from obtaining abortion services and delayed others. The out-of-state numbers don’t make up for the decrease and a corresponding increase of in-state abortions never materialized, she said.
In other words, the temporary ban saved babies’ lives.Though it is not clear exactly how many unborn babies were spared from death, the approximate 1,800 decrease in abortions in Texas coupled with the approximately 800 women who traveled out of state for abortions during that time amounts to about 1,000 fewer abortions. Some of these women may have aborted their unborn babies after the ban was lifted, but, as White noted, it appears that most did not.
The Texas Tribune reports the study was based on data from 30 abortion facilities in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico and 18 of the 24 abortion facilities in Texas.
Two abortionists helped write the study, Robin Wallace and Bhavik Kumar.
Several states included elective abortions in their restrictions on non-essential healthcare during the initial coronavirus outbreak in the spring of 2020. But pro-abortion groups challenged all of the orders in court, and only two, Texas and Arkansas, were allowed to enforce their life-saving orders.
All other states were forced to allow abortion facilities to remain open where they continued to abort unborn babies in unnecessary, elective abortions. Meanwhile, real medical procedures, such as cancer treatments, stents to prevent clogged arteries, dental work and joint replacements, were delayed because of the pandemic, the AP reported at the time. These procedures were delayed so that hospitals had more beds, equipment and staff to treat people suffering from the virus.
Last spring in the midst of the health crisis, medical groups representing more than 30,000 doctors in America emphasized that abortions are not “essential” or “urgent,” and abortion facilities that continued to operate during the pandemic were being “medically irresponsible.” Common abortion complications include infections, blood clots, hemorrhaging and an incomplete abortion. Abortion risks include future preterm births, breast cancer, suicide, anxiety/depression, and death. And it is not true that abortions are safer than childbirth.
