Tessa Cox

“Abortion up to birth” is sometimes used to describe abortions in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month of pregnancy. Although media coverage tends to focus on late-term abortions performed because the unborn baby has a serious health condition or the mother’s life is threatened, research indicates that many late-term abortions occur for reasons unrelated to serious maternal or fetal health concerns. And despite claims that born-alive abortion survivors are a myth, babies have survived late abortions.

Poised to lose state and federal funding, Planned Parenthood has argued it’s irreplaceable and that alternative providers cannot absorb its entire Medicaid client base, particularly contraceptive clients. These concerns are unwarranted. Thousands of alternative providers, including federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, and doctor’s offices, provide comprehensive health care that Planned Parenthood doesn’t and are important options that can help fill any gaps.

Given the discretionary preferential nature of the abortion decision, supply-induced demand is likely an important contributor to the increase in the volume and rate of induced abortions since 2018. This paper discusses Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the drug-induced abortion method, and the means by which they enhance demand.

Coincident with the increasing dominance of medical abortion, there is a concurrent increase in the misattribution of post-induced abortion emergency department visits to a spontaneous abortion. High levels of visit acuity suggest that these miscodes represent a serious risk factor. Further, these miscodes mask post-abortion complication rates and undermine both the science and medical management necessary to address these issues.

CLI Executive Director Karen Czarnecki sits down with CLI Senior Research Associate Tessa Cox to discuss how community health centers far outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities across the U.S.

Many claim that late-term abortions don't happen in the United States, or that they are only performed when the baby has a serious health condition. Are these claims valid?

The CDC released its annual abortion surveillance report on November 28, detailing 2022 abortion data in 48 reporting areas (46 states, NYC, and D.C.). Included in this fact sheet are key data points from that report.

Texas’ 2023 abortion report was released by Texas Health and Human Services in September 2024, showing a significant drop in abortions from 2022.

Articles highlighting poor quality medical care in pro-life states have raised concerns that state laws are preventing pregnant women from obtaining necessary emergency care. However, all pro-life state laws allow doctors to treat women with pregnancy emergencies, no law requires “imminence” before a doctor can intervene, and every pro-life state permits doctors to treat women suffering from miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. Doctors who fail to provide patients with necessary emergency treatment therefore may be committing malpractice.

Post-Dobbs, pro-life states’ efforts to protect life have been met with pushback, including widespread claims that the laws are contributing to hospital closures and driving doctors away. A close look at the data shows that these claims are unjustified. Pro-life states continue to train medical students, recruit future doctors, and position themselves for further growth.