Pro-life groups urge states to step up support for women after data predicts 60K fewer abortions in next year

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Pro-life groups are urging states to provide additional assistance for pregnant women and underserved families after data revealed there could be at least 60,000 fewer abortions nationwide over the next year since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

According to new data published on Sunday by FiveThirtyEight, there were 10,570 fewer abortions that would have otherwise occurred in the two months after the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which allowed states to determine their own abortion limitations. Data released this week by #WeCount, a subsidiary of pro-abortion non-profit Society of Family Planning, projects that 60,000 fewer abortions will occur in the United States over the next year due to new abortion bans in 18 Republican-led states.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the non-profit civil rights law firm that helped litigate the Dobbs case, celebrated the projection of fewer abortions in the #WeCount data, but also urged Republican states to continue to offer programs and incentives for helping women who won't receive an abortion.

"We celebrate fewer abortions, but these decreases are not nearly enough," said Denise Harle, senior counsel for ADF. 

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Harle stated that corporate America and the Biden administration are pushing policies to "advance an abortion industry-endorsed agenda" with free transportation for abortion and time off, while "pro-life states are offering real support."

Pro-life demonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 24, 2022. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

She pointed to Mississippi, which passed a "multi-million dollar tax credit for donations to pregnancy centers," and Texas, which has an "unprecedented number" of programs to help families who are dealing with unplanned pregnancies, including "safe housing, transportation, food, clothing, and health care."

"As we enter further into a post-Roe America, states and their citizens will step up and make abortion unthinkable," Harle added.

Lila Rose, president of the pro-life activist group Live Action, echoed that sentiment, saying: "Live Action and the pro-life movement will not stop until every child is protected and elective abortion is wiped out completely."

"It is also critical," Rose said, "for life-affirming policymakers to craft laws that provide for children in need and make America a more welcoming place to raise a family, but the first priority must be to stop the killing."

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 24: People protest in response to the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

However, Alexis McGill Johnson, president & CEO at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the largest abortion provider in the country, told Fox News Digital that the #WeCount data only provides a "small glimpse" into the issues facing women since the Dobbs decision.

"These data provide only a small glimpse into the national health crisis created when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and illustrate the devastating impact abortion bans have on people’s ability to access care," said Johnson. "Banning or restricting abortion doesn’t reduce people’s need for abortion care; it only blocks people’s ability to access it," the Planned Parenthood CEO continued.

Johnson added that the "the rest of the country simply cannot — and frankly, shouldn’t have to — meet the needs of thousands of people living in the 18 states and counting with severely restricted or no access to abortion."

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FiveThirtyEight’s study revealed that even though some Democratic-led states like Illinois and Minnesota saw an increase in abortion procedures by women traveling to other states, the rise did not make up for the drop in abortions in other states. Some Republican-led states banned abortions outright since Dobbs, which led to a more drastic drop in those regions.

Abortion rights activist rally at the Washington Monument before a march to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, May 14, 2022. (JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Tessa Longbons of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, told Fox News Digital that red states' pro-life laws are "saving thousands of lives and offering a new level of protection for women, who for 50 years have been preyed on by the profit-seeking abortion industry."

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.