These notes on sources and methodology relate to the article “Dozens of new state limits on abortions added in 2012,” first published Jan. 30, 2013.
Unless otherwise indicated, all data is current as of Jan. 1, 2013.
Scarcity of abortion providers
The number of abortion providers in each state is taken from “Abortion Incidence and Access to Services In the United States, 2008,” by Rachel K. Jones and Kathryn Kooistra. More recent figures are not available.
Based on these numbers, Remapping Debate defined “scarity” as either (a) 60 percent of women in a state or more living in a county without an abortion provider; or (b) 200,000 people in a state or more for each abortion provider.
Physician and hospital requirements
Information on state laws requiring that abortions be performed by a licensed physician, that abortions must be performed in a hospital after a certain point of fetal development, and those that require either the attendance or approval of a second physician after a certain point of fetal development was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: An Overview of Abortion Laws.”
Information on state laws requiring clinicians to be in the physical presence of the patient when prescribing mifepristone, a pharmaceutical drug that induces an abortion at an early stage of pregnancy, was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Medication Abortion.”
Information on states requiring that physician hold hospital privileges within a certain distance of any facility in which they perform abortions was taken from Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly State Update and from currently unpublished work from the Guttmacher Institute.
Later-term and “partial-birth” abortions
Information on state laws limiting abortions after viability, laws limiting abortions after a gestational threshold of 24 weeks or the third trimester, and laws limiting abortions at a specific gestational threshold that is less than 24 weeks or the third trimester was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: State Policies on Later Abortions.”
Information on state laws banning “partial-birth” abortions was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Bans on ‘Partial-Birth’ Abortion.”
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers
Information on targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP laws), including facility licensing, ambulatory surgical center (ASC) requirements, and requirements that abortions be performed in a hospital after a certain gestational threshold was taken from the Center for Reproductive Rights. This data is current as of March 5, 2009.
Additional information on TRAP laws from 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 was taken from Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly State Update.
Waiting period and counseling mandatory
Information on state laws requiring waiting periods before an abortion may be performed, laws which require in-person counseling and necessitate two trips to the clinic, laws requiring that women be provided with a written or verbal description of the procedure, laws requiring that women be provided with a written or verbal description of fetal development, and laws requiring that the clinician make assertions regarding fetal pain was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Counseling and Waiting Periods for Abortion.”
Ultrasound requirements
Information on state laws requiring that women be provided verbal or written information on an ultrasound, that an ultrasound must be offered, that if an ultrasound is performed, the patient must be offered the opportunity to view the image, and laws requiring an ultrasound to be performed and that the patient be offered the opportunity to view the image was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Requirements for Ultrasound.”
Parental involvement
Information on state laws requiring either parental consent or parental notification for an abortion to be performed for a minor was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Parental Involvement in Minors’ Abortions.”
Limitations on insurance coverage
Information on state laws that restrict coverage for abortions by all private insurance plans, on private insurance plans offered through the insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act, and on insurance policies for public employees was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: Restricting Insurance Coverage of Abortions.”
Near-total bans on abortion (unenforceable per Roe)
Information on these laws was taken from NARAL Pro-Choice America’s “Near-Total Abortion Bans.” Such laws are either legislative enactments that provide that they would go into effect if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade (sometimes known as “trigger” bans), or restrictions made inoperative by Roe (laws that would also take effect if Roe were overturned).
Limitations on public financing
Information on state laws limiting the state funding that is available to organizations that provide, counsel, or refer women for abortion services and laws limiting the ability of one or more state agency from counseling or referring women for abortion services was taken from NARAL Pro-Choice America’s “Counseling Bans & Gag Rules” and NARAL Pro-Choice America’s data on state-specific regulations.
Information on state laws limiting the public funds that are available to women for abortion services through Medicaid was taken from the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: State Funding of Abortion Under Medicaid.”