Fact

Abortions, like other reproductive health procedures, are safe.

They have significantly fewer poor outcomes than your average colonoscopy—a similarly routine outpatient procedure. Medication abortions have even safer outcomes while being 94–98% effective before 8 weeks and 94–96% after 8 weeks.⁴ And getting an abortion does not increase a pregnant person’s risk of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder.⁵ It also doesn’t increase the risk of breast cancer.⁶

But the mental and physical safety of abortion alone isn’t all this is about. We have to consider the safety of the alternative: requiring pregnant people to continue a pregnancy against their will. Being denied an abortion leads to a higher risk of serious complications during their pregnancy, it increases the likelihood of anxiety and staying tethered to abusive partners.⁷

On top of that, the maternal mortality rate for Indiana is the third worst in the nation,⁸ and as in so many areas related to healthcare, Black and Brown people are particularly vulnerable to disparities in reproductive care. For every 100,000 births in Indiana, 42 white women and 53 Black women will die as a result. In the 33 Indiana counties that don’t have any hospitals with obstetrics care, that number increases to 76 deaths overall for every 100,000 births.⁹ Getting an abortion is a lot safer than giving birth in Indiana.

Fact

The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal medical decision, one that often happens after talking to trusted family members and physicians.

There are lots of reasons a person might get an abortion, and we can’t judge another Hoosier’s decision when we haven’t walked in their shoes.

Using any family planning techniques, including contraception of all kinds and abortion care are all deeply personal medical decisions based on what’s right for that person, their family, and their life. Hoosiers should have the freedom to make these decisions without interference from the state.

Fact

We know this isn’t true because it’s never been true. When governments make it harder to access abortion care, it disproportionately hurts people whose lives are already hard.

Women who can’t afford the added expense that hard-to-access care requires,  such as extra time off work or extra childcare, may not be able to receive timely care, may be forced to continue an unsafe or unwanted pregnancy, or may try to get an abortion in some unsafe way.

Outlawing abortion also means that women—especially rural, low-income, non-English speakers, or poorly educated people—will be at risk of being prosecuted for miscarriages or attempted abortions. A woman seeking medical care should not be treated as a criminal. It’s not an idle threat, it’s already happened.¹⁰

Fact

Abortions later in pregnancy are incredibly rare—less than 1% of all abortions,¹¹ and happen when something has gone terribly wrong.

When the worst has happened in a pregnancy, the decision about what to do next should be between a woman, her family, and her physician—not dictated by politicians looking to spark outrage. The majority of Hoosiers trust medical experts, not politicians, to keep reproductive health care safe. Every pregnancy and every woman’s circumstances are different, and one-size-fits-all laws don’t work for every unique situation.

Fact

The vast majority of Hoosiers agree that abortion care should be regulated by medical experts, not by politicians with political agendas.

But that’s not currently the case. Medical decisions are being hindered or even undermined by politics. Everyone should be able to get the health care they need, and certain politicians’ agendas shouldn’t dictate personal medical decisions.

You should also know that previous to the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court had set the standard that Americans have a right to abortion up to the point of viability, when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, which happens at about 24 weeks. In Indiana, abortions could only be performed until 20 weeks postfertilization.¹²

Fact

Abortion is a matter of health care, not a criminal act.

Everyone should have the freedom to decide if and when to have children, and what’s best for them and their families. 

Being in charge of what happens to your own body is an essential part of our American, democratic society. All people, including pregnant people, should be able to get the health care they need without interference by state politicians.

Fact

There are absolutely times when an abortion is medically necessary to save a pregnant person’s life.

If a pregnant person’s water breaks before 20 weeks the fetus won’t survive, and that person’s risk for a deadly infection increases significantly. If they get diagnosed with cancer and are pregnant, chemotherapy, a life-saving procedure, can’t be done unless they have an abortion. Placental abruption, where the placenta starts to separate from the uterus can be life-threatening, as can preeclampsia in early pregnancy. These are all worst-case scenarios, and while rare, in countries around the world where abortion is illegal they mean the death of the pregnant person.¹³

Fact

You can be a champion for your neighbors’ freedom to decide their own path without having had an abortion yourself.

You can support your fellow Hoosiers by advocating for policies that help lower the incidence of unintended pregnancies to begin with. You can demand that politicians stop twisting this issue to fit their own agendas. You can demand better healthcare options for women across the state. And you can do all that while not believing abortion is the right option for you, and your family, and where you are right now. That’s what the freedom to decide for yourself is all about.

Fact

Whether you know their story or not, it’s pretty likely you do know someone who’s had an abortion—three in five Hoosiers do.

And across the United States, one in four women will have an abortion in her lifetime.¹⁴ They are people who were able to decide their own path in life, if and when to have children at the right time, with the right person. They’re our neighbors, cousins, coworkers and friends, even our mothers and grandmothers. Abortion care, family planning, and the access to all reproductive health shapes our families in ways we can’t always see on the surface.