{"id":49783,"date":"2025-11-14T19:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/49783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:23:08","slug":"texas-abortion-ban-had-greatest-effect-on-minors-study-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/49783\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas abortion ban had greatest effect on minors, study shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texans under the age of 18 faced more barriers to getting an abortion than any other age group in the months after the state enacted its six-week abortion ban in 2021, a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health<\/a> finds.<\/p>\n

Researchers looked at the nine months after Senate Bill 8 outlawed all abortions after fetal cardiac activity was detected \u2014 typically around five to six weeks into pregnancy. That period was compared to the same September to May period from 2020-2021, before the policy change.<\/p>\n

The total number of facility-based abortions received by Texas minors decreased by nearly 60%, compared to a nearly 42% decrease among adults between ages 25 and 29.<\/p>\n

The study also factored in abortions given to Texans in six surrounding states: Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. More Texans of all ages traveled out of state to receive abortions during the study period. For instance, just 62 Texas minors traveled out of state for abortions in the September to May period prior to SB8\u2019s enactment. That number rose to 366 in the nine months after SB8 became law in Texas.<\/p>\n

However, that increase in out-of-state abortions did not offset the overall decrease in procedures. Researchers found that overall abortions decreased by 26% among Texans younger than 18 during the study period, compared to 17% for adults between ages 25 and 29. Younger adults in the 18-24 age group also saw a larger decrease of close to 20%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also a group of folks who are just starting out on their own,\u201d said Dr. Kari White, one of the paper\u2019s authors, who is affiliated with the Texas-based Resound Research for Reproductive Health. \u201cThey may still be living with a parent. They don’t have a lot of extra financial resources. Maybe they don’t even have a car to be able to get someplace out of state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new AJPH study follows a 2024 analysis<\/a> out of the University of Houston that showed births to teenage mothers in Texas slightly increased after SB8 became law.<\/p>\n

New abortion laws have been implemented since the period examined in the AJPH study. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in 2022, all abortions became illegal in Texas, with a small exception for medical emergencies. Other nearby states also introduced bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is likely that there are even greater barriers now for young people getting access to facility-based abortion care,\u201d White said. \u201cRather than being able to go to Oklahoma for abortion care, people are now facing the closest clinic being in Kansas or Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

White\u2019s study also does not factor in the use of medication abortions, which have become more common<\/a> in recent years. She said data on use of abortion pills broken down by age group is not yet available \u2014 but noted that facility-based care remains the only option for some women based on various health factors and how far along they are in pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Support for KUT’s reporting on health news comes from St. David\u2019s Foundation<\/a>. Sponsors do not influence KUT’s editorial decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texans under the age of 18 faced more barriers to getting an abortion than any other age group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4970,28341,28342,132,134,133,17924,21010,516,4132,27],"class_list":["post-49783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-abortion","tag-ajph","tag-american-journal-of-public-health","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ban","tag-decrease","tag-study","tag-teen","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}