AUSTIN, Texas — Abortions in Texas plummeted about 15 percent during the first year after approval of tough restrictions that the U.S. Supreme Court has since struck down — a decline that activists say shows how hard it had become to get an abortion in America’s second-largest state.
The health department released the statistics June 30, after lengthy delays it blamed on finalizing the data. But providers and abortion-rights groups spent months complaining that officials were intentionally stalling, and the American Civil Liberties Union even recently accused the state of “concealing” the information.
The number of abortions in Texas has fallen every year since 2008, declining by nearly a third over that period. Fewer than 55,000 abortions were performed in Texas in 2014, compared with nearly 64,000 the previous year and almost 81,600 as recently as 2008. The decline in abortions between 2013 and 2014— the first full year that the state’s now-dismantled abortion clinic restrictions were in effect — was almost 9,000, the largest year-on-year drop in at least 15 years and nearly equal to the total decline from 2008 to 2011.
Abortion is becoming less common overall in the U.S. A recent analysis by The Associated Press found that abortions are down 12 percent nationwide since 2010 encompassing both liberal and conservatives states.
Texas has been a focal point for recent legal battles over abortion. The law approved in 2013 required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery. It was temporarily delayed by a filibuster that drew national attention, led by Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis.
Supporters said the law would keep women safer. But, since December 2010, the number of abortion clinics in Texas fell from 41 to 19.
“These numbers show that this law never had anything do with women’s health,” said Trisha Trigilio, staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “It’s clear why lawmakers might have wanted to keep this information out of the public eye before the Supreme Court made its decision.”
