Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec;56(4):329-336.
doi: 10.1111/psrh.12284. Epub 2024 Sep 17.

Understanding abortion legality and trimester of abortion care in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, three abortion-restrictive states

Annamarie L Beckmeyer  1 , Jeremy A Brenner-Levoy  2 , B Jessie Hill  3 , Tamika C Odum  4 , Abigail Norris Turner  5 , Alison H Norris  5 , Danielle Bessett  2 , Katherine L Rivlin  6
Affiliations

Understanding abortion legality and trimester of abortion care in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, three abortion-restrictive states

Annamarie L Beckmeyer et al. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: In the era of Dobbs, legality of abortion care in the United States depends upon state law. Even before Dobbs, while abortion remained legal mounting restrictions and debate surrounding legal abortion could have led to confusion about abortion legality and discouraged patients from accessing legal abortion. We hypothesized an association between believing abortion is illegal or uncertainty about legality with later timing of abortion care.

Methods: We surveyed patients seeking abortion care in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky from April 2020 to April 2021. We asked about their understanding of abortion legality at the time they were first deciding to have an abortion. Using unconditional logistic regression models, we examined associations between beliefs about abortion legality (measured as belief that abortion is legal or sometimes legal versus. illegal or unsure) and timing of abortion care (measured as trimester of abortion).

Results: Over half (57%) of the 1,479 patients who met eligibility criteria and completed the survey believed abortion was always legal, 21% thought abortion was sometimes legal, 12% believed abortion was illegal, and 10% did not know. Most (92%) had a first trimester abortion (<14 weeks gestation). Belief that abortion was illegal, or uncertainty about abortion legality, was not significantly associated with second trimester abortion care (unadjusted odds ratio [uOR]: 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.50-1.20). This association did not change meaningfully after adjusting for demographic and clinical variables (adjusted OR [aOR]: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.51-1.33).

Discussion: More than one in five patients presenting for abortion care in three abortion-restrictive states prior to Dobbs erroneously believed that abortion was illegal or were unsure. Understanding of legality was not significantly associated with timing of abortion care. These misunderstandings could escalate under Dobbs.

Keywords: abortion; law/legal issues.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Study recruitment and inclusion among participants seeking abortion in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Supreme Court of the United States . Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, et al. v. Jackson Women's Health Organization et al. 2022. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
    1. Guttmacher Institute . An overview of abortion laws. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/overview-abortion-laws
    1. Guttmacher Institute . For the first time ever, U.S. states enacted more than 100 abortion restrictions in a single year. https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/10/first-time-ever-us-states-ena...
    1. Hill BJ. Legislative restrictions on abortion. Virtual Mentor. 2012;14(2):133‐136. doi:10.1001/virtualmentor.2012.14.2.hlaw1-1202 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Heymann O, Odum T, Norris AH, Bessett D. Selecting an abortion clinic: the role of social myths and risk perception in seeking abortion care. J Health Soc Behav. 2022;63(1):90‐104. doi:10.1177/00221465211044413 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding