The Ohio heartbeat law stopped almost 2,500 unborn babies from being aborted in the state this summer, according to a new study by the pro-abortion research group WeCount.
Ohio and more than a dozen other states began enforcing pro-life laws after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Some of those laws are in effect while others, including the Ohio heartbeat law, have been blocked temporarily by court orders.
From June to August while the law was in effect, abortions dropped 65 percent in Ohio, representing about 2,470 unborn babies’ lives, the new study found, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. According to the study, abortion facilities reported 1,950 abortions in April; but after the heartbeat law went into effect, the number dropped to 680 in August.
The heartbeat law prohibits unborn babies from being killed in abortions once their heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy.
“One of the things that stands out the most is how big this number is,” Alison Norris, a professor at Ohio State University and participant in the WeCount project, told the newspaper. “Those numbers represent some person and some family who is having their whole situation disrupted.”
They also represent babies whose lives were spared from violent abortion deaths, and pro-life organizations are ramping up efforts to help them and their families with medical, financial and emotional support.
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While some pregnant mothers did travel to other states for abortions, the researchers found that others will have their babies instead.
Here’s more from the report:
Many Ohioans traveled to surrounding states to obtain abortions there. Illinois saw a 28% increase in abortions between April and August; Indiana had a 15% increase; Michigan saw an 8% increase and Pennsylvania had a 6% increase, according to the report’s estimates.
Offsetting the abortion decrease by the number of women who traveled to other states for abortions, the study estimates approximately 10,000 unborn babies have been saved from abortions nation-wide as a result of the state pro-life laws in effect.
While the CDC and state health departments are notoriously slow to report abortion data, the new statistics came from a pro-abortion group that received its data directly from abortion facilities.
“Thirteen states banned or severely restricted abortion during those months, mostly in the South, and legal abortions in those states fell to close to zero, according to detailed estimates made by a consortium of academics and abortion providers,” the report said. “Nine more states added major abortion restrictions, and legal abortions in those states fell by a third. In states with bans and restrictions, there were about 22,000 fewer abortions in July and August, compared with the baseline of April, before the decision.”
That 22,000 decline in the number of babies killed was more than enough to offset the increase of 12,000 abortions in blue states that advertised abortions to women in pro-life states that protect women and children.
Texas saved the most babies from abortions, with a massive decline from April to August, when only 10 unborn babies were killed in abortions. In Texas alone, 5,470 babies were saved thanks to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling and the new state abortion ban.
As LifeNews reported, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with a 6-3 majority ruling in the Dobbs case. The justices decided that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” and began allowing states to ban abortions and protect unborn babies again.
