Date on which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down two Texas laws that created significant barriers to women’s abortion access by imposing burdensome regulations on abortion clinics that other health care facilities don’t have to meet: 6/27/2016

The court’s split on the decision: 5-3

Portion of clinics in Texas that would have been shuttered by the laws: 3/4

Number of clinics that the laws would have left open in Texas: 10

Number of Texas women of reproductive age those 10 clinics would have been expected to serve: 5.4 million

Days after the Texas decision that the high court announced it would not review lower-court decisions from Mississippi and Wisconsin blocking abortion restrictions similar to those it struck down, and that Alabama’s attorney general announced he would no longer enforce a similar law in his state: 1

Year in which Louisiana passed its own restrictive abortion law, which is also being challenged in the federal courts, and which experts have said is now likely to be overturned: 2014

Number of states with these laws imposing special regulations on abortion, known as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers or TRAP laws: 24

Of the 13 Southern states, number that passed TRAP laws: 11

Number of times more likely a woman is to die of childbirth, which under Texas law is allowed to be overseen by a midwife in the mother’s own home, than abortion: 14

Number of women in the U.S. who died of legally induced abortions in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available: 2

Number of women who die in the U.S. each year from complications of pregnancy or childbirth: 800

Number of countries worldwide where mortality from pregnancy and childbirth is increasing, including the U.S.: 8

Factor by which African-American women in the U.S. are more likely to die of pregnancy or childbirth than white women: 3

Number of restrictions on abortion that states have enacted since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure in its 1972 Roe v. Wade decision: at least 1,074

Portion of those restrictions enacted just since 2010: more than 1/4

Rank of the South among regions where women face some of the most severe restrictions on abortion: 1

(Click on figure to go to source.)


ZNetwork is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.

Donate
Donate

Editorial director of the NC-based Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South and Southern Exposure, where she focuses on energy & the environment.

Leave A Reply

Subscribe

All the latest from Z, directly to your inbox.

Institute for Social and Cultural Communications, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit.

Our EIN# is #22-2959506. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

We do not accept funding from advertising or corporate sponsors.  We rely on donors like you to do our work.

ZNetwork: Left News, Analysis, Vision & Strategy

Subscribe

All the latest from Z, directly to your inbox.

Sound is muted by default.  Tap 🔊 for the full experience

CRITICAL ACTION

Critical Action is a longtime friend of Z and a music and storytelling project grounded in liberation, solidarity, and resistance to authoritarian power. Through music, narrative, and multimedia, the project engages the same political realities and movement traditions that guide and motivate Z’s work.

If this project resonates with you, you can learn more about it and find ways to support the work using the link below.

No Paywalls. No Billionaires.
Just People Power.

Z Needs Your Help!

ZNetwork reached millions, published 800 originals, and amplified movements worldwide in 2024 – all without ads, paywalls, or corporate funding. Read our annual report here.

Now, we need your support to keep radical, independent media growing in 2025 and beyond. Every donation helps us build vision and strategy for liberation.

Subscribe

Join the Z Community – receive event invites, announcements, a Weekly Digest, and opportunities to engage.

Exit mobile version