Abortion access for adolescents in the US after Dobbs | Candace Gibson & Michelle Slaybaugh

Transcript: One trend that’s keeping us—and the Guttmacher staff—up at night is the rise of abortion support bans. These laws make it extremely difficult for adults to help young people access abortion care, whether by facilitating travel, providing information, or supporting them in any way. Under these bans, adults can face civil or criminal liability if they act without parental consent.

This is particularly troubling because parental involvement laws already exist, so these new bans just add another barrier to care. Before the fall of Roe v. Wade, 54% of adolescents delayed expenses or sold something to cover the cost of their abortion and 66% reported that someone had driven them to a facility. These bans will make it even harder for young people—and the adults in their lives who support them—to obtain care.

Another concerning trend: eight bills were introduced in six states requiring parental consent or notification for contraception. Additionally, more than half of states now have restrictions or bans on gender-affirming care for young people. All 14 states with total abortion bans also have restrictions on gender-affirming care.

What we’re seeing is a clear playbook: the opposition is taking strategies used to restrict abortion access and applying them to other essential forms of health care. The result is a systematic erosion of young people’s rights to bodily autonomy and access to the care they need.