Tessa Cox
Senior Research AssociateTessa Cox is Senior Research Associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, where her research focuses on abortion statistics at the state and national levels and the changing landscape of abortion policy, provision, and access in the United States.
Tessa has appeared on CBN News and EWTN News Nightly and has testified before Members of Congress on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Her work has been featured by National Review Online, Newsweek, The Gospel Coalition, Fox News, The Daily Signal, and many other national media outlets. She has contributed to peer-reviewed research on women’s experiences with chemical abortion and the impact of abortion on women enrolled in Medicaid.
Originally from Illinois, Tessa earned a BA in Communications from Thomas Edison State University. Prior to joining CLI, she got her start in pro-life research with the Family Research Council.
Research Authored
Abortion Reporting: Colorado (2021)
Colorado’s 2021 abortion report was published online by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in May 2022. The report shows that abortions increased from 2020. This is the second state summary from Charlotte Lozier Institute covering calendar year 2021 from states that publish annual reports.
Abortion Reporting: Alaska (2021)
Alaska was one of the first states to publish its 2021 abortion report, releasing is 2021 statistics online in April 2022. The report shows that abortions increased from 2020. This is the first state summary from Charlotte Lozier Institute covering calendar year 2021 from states that publish annual reports.
Abortion Reporting: Kansas (2020)
Kansas’ preliminary 2020 abortion report was published online in June 2021, and the final report was published in December 2021.
Abortion Reporting: Montana (2020)
Montana’s 2020 vital statistics report, which contains the state’s abortion data, was published on the website of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services in February 2022. The report shows that Montana abortions increased in 2020.
Abortion Reporting: Idaho (2020)
Idaho’s 2020 abortion report was published by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in January 2022. The report shows that abortions increased from the previous year.
Abortion Reporting: Wisconsin (2021)
Wisconsin’s 2021 abortion report was released in October 2022, showing that abortions in Wisconsin increased from 2020.
Abortion Reporting: Connecticut (2020)
There were 7,187 abortions reported in Connecticut in 2020, down 22 percent from 2019. Chemical abortions dropped 18 percent from 4,565 in 2019 to 3,763 in 2020, composing 52 percent of the total in 2020.
Abortion Reporting: Illinois (2020)
Illinois released 2019 and 2020 abortion data simultaneously in February 2022. Abortion statistics are now available as online tables, rather than as downloadable PDFs as in previous years. Total abortions increased by 10 percent between 2018 and 2019 and then held relatively steady between 2019 and 2020, declining by just 0.6 percent.
Fact Sheet: Reasons for Abortion
After the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, states across the country have enacted laws that limit abortion. Frequently, these laws make exceptions for abortions for certain reasons, such as rape and incest, risk to the mother’s life or health, or a fetal abnormality. This fact sheet documents how common, or uncommon, these various reasons for abortion are.
Abortion Reporting: Utah (2019)
Utah’s 2019 abortion report was published online by the Utah Department of Health in February 2022, showing that abortions decreased in 2019.