A new study published in Contemporary Economic Policy says women of childbearing age reported increased rates of anxiety in states where abortion bans were enacted in 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In those states, women of reproductive age reported greater increases in anxiety symptoms compared to older women living in the same states and similar-age women living in states where abortion access remained unchanged. The most pronounced relative change in anxiety symptoms occurred in women with young children.
This is sobering news for women across America, now that 21 states either ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade. (The 1973 ruling gave women the right to get an abortion up until fetal viability, typically around 24-28 weeks of pregnancy, when the fetus can live on its own outside the womb.)
Abortion is currently banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
The procedure is banned at about six weeks of pregnancy in Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina; at 12 weeks in Nebraska and North Carolina; at 15 weeks in Arizona; and at 18 weeks in Utah. (Abortion was on the ballot in a number of states this election cycle: You can track where here.)
What’s equally sobering is that younger men, especially white men and men without children, reported decreases in anxiety symptoms in those states where abortion became illegal. That finding comes as many white Gen Z men voted for Trump and against state ballot measures that would have reaffirmed a woman’s right to choose in this year’s recent election.
Unfortunately, it may not be a surprise given the increase in online hate speech waged against girls and women by some young men when it came to reproductive rights issues this election cycle, most evident in the “your body, my choice” phrase that was circulating on social media.
“The survey data shows just how strongly people feel about abortion policies,” study author J. Michael Collins, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, said in a statement. Co-author Vivekananda Das, PhD, of the University of Utah, added that “younger women are highly aware of state-level abortion policy changes, and this awareness can take a toll on their mental health. The contrast with younger men in the same states highlights a notable gender gap in response to these policies.”
The study is based on self-reported data from the U.S. Census Bureau, gathered from federal agencies, on 126,834 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, between January and September of 2022, before and after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The study, which looks at a short period of time (9 months), found that in the short term, people’s mental health reverted back to previous patterns. However, it remains to be seen how abortion bans and limits on reproductive rights will affect women’s long-term mental health and well-being as changes make their way through federal and state levels.