Since the state’s abortion law took effect last year, the number of abortions performed each month has dropped by nearly half according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health provided to the AJC through an open records request. The cases of people using medication to induce an abortion, as opposed to surgery, increased by nearly 20%. In the first seven months of 2022, before Georgia’s law took effect, an average of about 4,000 abortions were performed each month.
Since the law took effect in late July 2022, abortions are being performed at an average of about 2,176 per month. The majority of abortions, both by pill and surgery, performed in Georgia between January and July 2022 were done when the woman was about six weeks pregnant. Since the law took effect, the average length of pregnancy has dropped to about five weeks.
Georgia’s abortion law is being challenged in the state Supreme Court. In November, a Fulton County Superior Court judge threw out the state law, allowing abortions past the detection of fetal cardiac activity to resume. About a week later, the state Supreme Court said the law should be in effect throughout the court process.
