Pro-life advocates are sounding the alarm as late-term abortions increase in some blue states

Women's rights advocates have dismissed concerns about late-term abortion as a right-wing talking point, but pro-lifers note data showing the supposedly false phenomenon is on the rise in blue states.

Figures issued by the Oregon Health Authority shows that the number of abortions performed after 23 weeks of gestation, or after fetal viability, increased from 85 in 2022 to 225 in 2023, a jump of 165% in one year.

The total number of abortions during that period rose to 10,075 in 2023, an increase of 16.2% and the highest state total since 2009.

“The dramatic increase in late-term abortions in Oregon is devastating and horrifying,” said Lois Anderson, executive director of Oregon Right to Life. “At 23 weeks of gestation and beyond, the unborn human is well developed… She can feel pain and with help she can survive outside the womb.”

Oregon is not alone. In Colorado the number The number of abortions performed after 28 weeks of pregnancy rose from 118 in 2022 to 137 in 2023, a 16% increase in one year, according to Colorado Department of Health and Environment data analyzed by pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The total number of abortions in Colorado went from 14,154 in 2022 to 14,691 in 2023, a year-over-year increase of 3.8% and the highest number since 1985, although the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute put the total at 25,000 in its Monthly Abortion Provision Study. .

The Lozier analysis released earlier this month attributed the discrepancy to home procedures performed using abortion pills.

“Colorado does not restrict abortion at any gestational age, so it is possible that Guttmacher's count for Colorado's 2023 total included mail-order abortions prescribed by physicians in the United States and shipped to Colorado,” the institute said.

In Michigan, the total number of abortions increased by 3.7%, from 30,120 in 2022 to 31,241 in 2023. The number of post-viability abortions, or abortions performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy, increased by 18%. according to to include data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Abortion rates have fallen dramatically in red states that have tightened their laws since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, but the Lozier Institute noted increases in states with liberal abortion laws.

“Through November 2024, 21 states had released abortion statistics for 2023, nine of which showed an increase in abortions from 2022,” the institute said.

The increase may well be due to so-called abortion tourism, as women from states with stricter laws seek procedures in more abortion-friendly states. In Oregon, for example, 16% of abortions were performed on non-resident women, a 60% increase from 2022.

But why the increase in the number of post-viability procedures? Oregon Sen. Suzanne Weber said she worries this could be related to the Democratic Party's emphasis on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

“We were hit with it every day on TV by the candidates. They pulled it so hard. It seemed like a one-issue campaign,” Weber, a Republican, said.

Another possibility is the increase in human trafficking as cartels and gangs flow into the country from the porous southern border. A 2014 Beazley Institute study found that 66 previously trafficked women among them had undergone 114 abortions.

“There is a lot of human trafficking going on in this state,” Ms. Weber said. “We have the I-5 highway that goes right through here and connects to southern Oregon, where they mainly grew a lot of illegal marijuana, and then we have all the drugs from Mexico that come straight through that corridor. And human trafficking fits right in with that.”

Planned parenthood does blasted late-term abortion as a “completely made-up phrase” and “pure anti-abortion propaganda,” but also said red state restrictions could result in delays for women seeking to end their pregnancies.

“Abortion bans cause people to leave the state to get care and create a backlog of patients at health centers, forcing people to delay their abortions,” Planned Parenthood said in an October 2022 post. “And other restrictions – such as wait times , mandatory ultrasounds, parental notification laws, and laws that prohibit health insurance or Medicaid from covering abortion care – create even more barriers that lead to later abortions.”

Kelsey Pritchard, state public affairs director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said one problem is that state data generally does not explain why women have abortions after the fetus is viable, when a baby can survive outside the womb.

“Was it for a diagnosis of a fetal anomaly? Was it for the situation of the mother's life? she asked. “That is a major problem that we are not aware of and that states usually do not record that data.”

She referred to research by late abortion specialist Warren Hern, showing that only about a fifth of the procedures performed at his Colorado clinic were performed in cases of fetal abnormalities.

'Guttmacher even did that said that many of these abortions are elective,” Ms Pritchard said. “I think we have reason to be concerned that these late-term abortions are happening for elective reasons.”

Four states — California, Maryland, New Hampshire and North Dakota — do not report abortion data to the federal government, and Michigan will soon join them.

The Democratic-led state legislature voted last year to stop requiring abortion clinics to report their numbers, citing privacy concerns, despite objections from Republicans and pro-life groups.

The result is that Michigan will not collect abortion data in 2024 for the first time in 45 years.

“I think we all agree that the data is needed, but of course it often tries to keep people in the dark,” Ms Pritchard said. “And the abortion industry doesn't want people to know.”