HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — North Carolina saw an uptick in abortions in the years prior to the passage of legislation that restricted access to abortion care in the state this year.
According to the Guttmacher Organization, between 2020 and June 2023, there was an uptick of 57% in abortions in North Carolina and a 124% increase in abortions in South Carolina. Guttmacher organization notes that the increase in South Carolina may have had something to do with the passage of restrictive legislation in Georgia in July 2022, prior to South Carolina’s own law being implemented in August 2023.
Both North and South Carolina have passed legislation banning abortions. South Carolina has banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, and North Carolina recently passed a law, despite Governor Roy Cooper’s veto, that bans most abortions after twelve weeks.
In the coming months, Guttmacher says that they intend to start collecting data specifically from people who had to cross state lines to obtain an abortion since the overturn of Roe vs. Wade last year.
Guttmacher estimates around 25,000 abortions were performed in North Carolina in the first six months of 2023.
