Shield laws like Colorado’s support abortion access for people in other states, report details

People march for abortion rights near the Colorado Capitol at Grant Street and 14th Avenue. (Faith Miller/Colorado Newsline)

More than 40,000 people in states with total or six-week abortion bans were able to access telehealth abortion from providers in states with shield laws, including Colorado , in the last six months of 2023, according to a new report .

#WeCount, a national abortion reporting effort from the nonprofit Society of Family Planning, looks at how abortion access has changed by state since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, which removed constitutional protection of abortion rights.

The sixth report since the project started shows a continued increase in telehealth abortion care around the country, now accounting for 19% of all abortions reported. Shield laws, which protect people who travel to a permissible state for abortion or gender-affirming care from lawsuits and criminal prosecution initiated in other states, have led to increased access for people in states with severe restrictions.

The report starts tracking abortion care provided through shield laws in July 2023 and ends in December 2023. Colorado’s shield law went into effect in April 2023.

“Since providers started offering medication abortion via telehealth under shield law protections, nearly 8,000 people per month in states with bans or severe restrictions have access to medication abortion care in this way,” said Ushma Upadhyay, #WeCount co-chair and professor at the University of California San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, during a press conference Tuesday.

Upadhyay said the increase in telehealth abortions is particularly significant given that a Supreme Court ruling on the Food and Drug Administration approval of abortion medication mifepristone is expected to come in June. The ruling could affect access to medication abortion everywhere, including states with protections in statute like Colorado.

#WeCount data estimated that in April 2022, 1,600 people received an abortion procedure or telehealth abortion in Colorado. A year later in April 2023, 2,330 people received abortions in the state, a 45.6% increase. While the number dipped down to 2,060 abortions in December 2023, the number of abortions in Colorado has remained consistently higher than pre-Dobbs. These counts don’t include abortions provided under shield laws, which #WeCount reported only in aggregate.

Alison Norris, #WeCount co-chair and professor at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, said the latest round of data does not reflect additional challenges that will arise since Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect at the start of May.

“We know that people from across the southern part of the United States have been traveling to Florida for care,” Norris said. “Florida now has a six-week ban in effect, and we expect that tens of thousands of Floridians as well as people from across the South will lose access to essential care in that state.”

The post Shield laws like Colorado’s support abortion access for people in other states, report details appeared first on Colorado Newsline .