Kentucky abortions dropped by nearly half last year, showing impact of statewide bans
The number of reported abortions provided in Kentucky last year dropped by roughly 43 percent, according to new annual report tracking the medical procedure.
The reduction in legal pregnancy terminations correlates directly with the commonwealth’s trigger law banning abortion and a six-week ban, both of which became enforceable last summer with the overturning of federal abortion protections by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Last year, 2,550 abortions were provided in Kentucky, down from the 4,441 performed in 2021, according the the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Office of Vital Statistics report released Wednesday. All but three of the 2,550 were provided before August, when both bans were fully in place.
Kentucky’s trigger law bans abortion except when a pregnant person’s life is at risk. The concurrent six-week ban, or fetal heartbeat law, outlaws abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy. Health care providers who perform abortions outside these confines can be charged with a felony.
There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities that cause a pregnancy to be nonviable.
The combined impact of both laws has been a virtual elimination of abortion in Kentucky, even in circumstances where termination is medically recommended, such as when a fetus is nonviable, as the Herald-Leader has reported.
That trend has continued into this year. From January to July, reported abortions in Kentucky dropped by almost 100% compared with 2021, according to state data. Thirteen abortions were reported to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services between January and July of 2023, compared to 2,591 reported in 2021 during the same time frame — a reduction of 99.5%.
All abortions last year in Kentucky were provided at 21 weeks gestation or less, the report shows, and 89% of all abortions were provided at 12 weeks or less.
With roughly a month left in Kentucky’s hotly contested governor’s race, abortion has become a focal point of both Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s respective campaigns.
Both candidates have criticized one another for being too extreme in their stances: Beshear has jabbed Cameron for not supporting rape and incest exceptions, and Cameron has criticized Beshear for his veto history of multiple abortion bills passed into law by the GOP supermajority General Assembly.
Last month, Cameron publicly changed his position, announcing he would support adding rape and incest exceptions, if court-ordered to do so.
Ten girls under the age of 15 got abortions last year, as did 201 teenagers ages 15 to 19.
The two youngest patients to receive an abortion in the last two years were 9 years old, the Courier Journal reported last September. Under state law, sexual intercourse with a 9-year-old is first-degree rape.
A breakdown of individual ages from the 2022 report was not immediately available.
While most of the abortions provided last year were for in-state residents, people who live in 19 other states got abortions in Kentucky, including 215 pregnant people from Indiana, 123 from Tennessee, and 48 from Ohio.
Though Kentucky saw an overall reduction, data from surrounding states suggests pregnant Kentuckians are traveling to get abortions in states where it’s still legal.
Though roughly a dozen U.S. states outlawed it, the cumulative number of abortions provided so far in 2023 increased nationwide compared to 2020. In states that have preserved access, like Illinois, demand for the medical procedure has spiked, according to new estimates released last month by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research policy center.
While most states surrounding Kentucky, including Tennessee, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas, have passed laws restricting abortion, Illinois — a state without an abortion ban — is the outlier. There, abortion remains legal up to the point of viability. From January to June of this year, the number of abortions provided in Illinois grew by an estimated 69% (from 26,000 to roughly 45,000) compared with 2020, according to Guttmacher.
Organizations like the Kentucky Health Justice Network, which offers financial assistance to people who need help paying for their abortions, has noted an uptick in calls to their hotline and resources spent on travel, or what it calls “direct assistance.”
In the more than year since Kentucky banned abortion, the level of financial assistance for hotels and gas has increased by almost 130%, Savannah Trebuna, KHJN’s abortion support fund co-director, told the Herald-Leader last month.
Increasingly, “we’re seeing a large need for practical support, things like gas money or a flight, hotels and childcare expenses,” she said.
This story was originally published October 5, 2023 at 4:48 PM.
