One year after Dobbs, US abortion landscape transformed

It is the most personal of decisions, yet it has become a defining issue of our time: whether to bear a child.

And in the year since the United States Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, eliminating a nearly 50-year federal right to abortion, the impact has been profound.

Overnight, U.S. women of childbearing age went from having a largely nationwide right to bodily autonomy to living in a country where one’s reproductive rights can vary dramatically from state to state. In post-Dobbs America, tens of thousands of fewer abortions have taken place, compared with the prior year, according to the Society of Family Planning, which specializes in abortion and contraception science. Several dozen clinics have closed.

In many cases, pregnant women and girls seeking abortions, even in the earliest stages, must travel out of state to receive services, either at great personal expense