What does this mean for people who need abortion care in the U.S.?
Understanding the current wait time for accessing abortion continues to be critical in the post-Dobbs decision landscape. Just this past month, both Arizona and Florida announced devastatingabortion news: a near-total abortion ban in Arizona and six-week ban in Florida. People seeking an abortion in these states, as well as those living in nearby states that will absorb new patients as a result of the bans, will face an increasingly common dilemma: how does one obtain an abortion in a timely manner?
The Wallace Center, collaborating with DrPH candidate Betsy Pleasants, looked to social networking site Reddit (subreddit r/abortion) to understand how people have experienced and managed increased waits for abortion. The study team looked at posts from the time of SCOTUS’s Jackson v. Dobbs decision leak through the end of 2022 and found that among posts to r/abortion that described waiting to start an abortion (n=80), wait times ranged from one day to more than one month.
The study, published in Social Science and Medicine, shows that lack of appointment availability and waiting for mailed medications were commonly described as causing delays. The wait time for medication abortion ranged from one day to three weeks, while the waiting period for procedural abortion was longer at one day to one month. The posters described this waiting period as a time of intense anxiety, fear, isolation, and uncertainty:
“I feel so sad, but not about getting an abortion but because this entire process has been so difficult. I probably won’t tell anyone about this and it feels like a lot to handle on my own. I feel anxious and depressed and know it will probably get worse in the days leading up to my appointment. Any kind words would be appreciated.” (composite quote, procedural abortion)
Many posters also expressed challenges with pregnancy symptoms while waiting for an abortion. This study highlights the importance of creating new and different resources to support people waiting for abortion care that focus on managing pregnancy symptoms, understanding what to expect during an abortion, and navigating anxiety and isolation while waiting. With additional restrictions on abortion access–as with the recent bans in Arizona and Florida–wait times for abortion care are likely to increase, exposing people seeking abortions to more of the challenges described on r/abortion.
Read more about this research in ourresearch brief and check out theWallace Center website for more information on r/abortion and ongoing research projects. For more information about this research, contact the Wallace Center for MCAH Research (wallacecenter@berkeley.edu).