Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Marks One Year Post-Roe

Raleigh, N.C. — Today marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which allowed state lawmakers to ban abortion and stripped tens of millions of people of the right to make their own personal medical decisions. Twenty states have banned or eliminated all or some access to abortion, including states within Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s service area. Today, 1 in 3 women — and more transgender and non-binary people — live in a state without access to abortion.

Statement from Jenny Black, President & CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic:

In just one year, politicians have decimated access to abortion across the South, creating a crisis in our healthcare system that is volatile, chaotic, and tragic. Bans on abortion have forced medical providers to ignore standards of medical care and put people’s health at risk, leaving patients desperate, confused, and afraid. Being denied an abortion and forced to remain pregnant will have long-term consequences. As the horrifying realities of this post-Roe America come into sharper focus, the worst is yet to come if anti-abortion politicians have their way. 

But we are part of a movement that is strong and built to last. In the wake of relentless political attacks on health care and bodily autonomy, people have fought back, demanding more access to abortion and control over their bodies and lives. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic health care providers and staff have demonstrated extraordinary resolve to provide care, working extra shifts and seeing more patients than ever before. The freedom to control what happens to your body is a fundamental human right, and we will build a just world that includes nationwide access to abortion for all. We will never back down.

One year post-Roe v. Wade, abortion is banned in nearly all circumstances in West Virginia. On July 1, North Carolina’s Senate Bill 20 is set to take effect, a sweeping law that will ban abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy with limited exceptions and impose a multitude of new restrictions on care that make getting an abortion before 12 weeks much more difficult, if not impossible. A federal court will hear a legal challenge to S.B. 20 on Wednesday, June 28. In South Carolina, abortion remains legal despite sustained efforts by the state legislature to ban abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy. One such abortion ban, Senate Bill 1, was struck down by the South Carolina Supreme in January. The state’s highest court will hear a legal challenge to a nearly identical law, Senate Bill 474, on Tuesday, June 27. In Virginia, access to abortion remains largely protected, although state politicians have vowed to further restrict abortion access if given the opportunity.

Between January and May of this year, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic served 29% more patients seeking abortion care compared to the same time frame in 2022, in large part as a result of the influx of out-of-state patients forced to travel to this region for care. Over the last year, North Carolina saw the largest percentage increase (36%) in patients seeking abortion at Planned Parenthood health centers, in line with a report from the Society of Family Planning which found North Carolina had the largest percentage increase of people seeking abortion than any other state in the country. Across Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Health Centers, 20% of patients seeking abortion are now from out of state. 

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Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) is a nonprofit health care provider offering a wide range of affordable and reliable reproductive and sexual health care services in our 14 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. PPSAT provides abortion services in North Carolina (Asheville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, and Wilmington), South Carolina (Columbia and Charleston), and Virginia (Roanoke and Charlottesville).