Louisiana Abortions Dropped 31% During COVID as More Babies Saved From Abortion

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jul 17, 2021   |   1:02PM   |   Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A new study examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on abortion implies that unborn babies’ lives were spared from abortion in Louisiana during the spring shut-downs.

WWNO Public Radio in New Orleans reports researchers at the University of California San Francisco found a 31-percent drop in abortions between March and May of 2020 in Louisiana. UC San Francisco is a major pro-abortion research hub.

Their study, published in June in the “American Journal of Public Health,” compared abortion numbers from the same months in 2018 and 2019 as well as data on women who traveled out of state for abortions.

“This 31 percent reduction really does represent a decrease in abortions among Louisiana residents,” said lead researcher Dr. Sarah Roberts. “It’s striking in terms of what a dramatic impact there was.”

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In the spring of 2020, Louisiana and many other states shut down all non-essential services to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In Louisiana and other states with pro-life governors, abortions were included among non-essential services, and some abortion facilities temporarily shut down, including two in Louisiana.

Roberts said the drop in abortions in Louisiana was not made up by the number of women who traveled out of state for abortions.

Here’s more from the report:

Researchers followed up with abortion clinics through early July and did not find a rebound in services.

“This really is an indication of the fact that more people were unable to obtain abortions during the first few months of the pandemic,” Roberts said.

The study’s timeframe from March through May shows that abortion did not decline for other reasons — such as fewer pregnancies, Roberts added.

While the researchers did find an increase in the number of second-trimester abortions later in the state, it appears that many mothers chose not to follow through with thoughts about abortion and instead chose life for their babies.

State health statistics also show that abortion numbers dropped in Louisiana in 2020. There were 7,448 abortions performed in the state, down 9 percent from the 8,144 unborn babies who were killed by abortion in 2019. Overall, abortions in the state are down 27 percent since 2014, according to Louisiana Right to Life.

Another study similarly found a significant drop in abortion numbers in Texas when the state closed abortion facilities in the spring of 2020.

But the full impact of the pandemic on unborn babies, mothers and abortion is still unclear. Abortion numbers dropped in some states and rose in others.

A wealth of evidence shows that pro-life laws and other types of abortion restrictions do save lives and stop abortions. Secular Pro-Life has compiled a list of studies and other evidence here.