Abortions reportedly increased post-Dobbs, according to a study from the pro-abortion Society for Family Planning. However, a trained social scientist and business professor questioned the applicability of the study as it relates to the effectiveness of pro-life laws.

“In the year since the Dobbs decision, compared to the average monthly number of abortions observed in the pre-Dobbs period of April and May 2022, there were 2,200 cumulative more abortions during the 12 months July 2022 to June 2023,” the study reported.

The authors claim that this indicates a jump from pre-Dobbs levels.

“In the two months before Dobbs, the average monthly number of abortions provided by clinicians in the US was 82,115 while in the 12 months after Dobbs, the average monthly number of abortions was 82,298,” the authors wrote.

But Catholic University of America Professor Michael New challenged the media’s interpretation of the study, which was widely picked up by the media, including NPR and CNN.

“Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media’s spin is that the pro-life laws that have been enacted since the Dobbs decision have been ineffective at lowering abortion rates,” New wrote recently at National Review. “However, there is less here than meets the eye. First, there is a key methodological shortcoming with the #WeCount estimates.”

“The #WeCount project compares a year of post-Dobbs abortion data to only two months of pre-Dobbs abortion data,” he wrote.

He noted that the two months prior to Dobbs is a “relatively small sample size,” and Texas and Oklahoma were enforcing bans prior to the decision in June 2022. These two factors make “the abortion declines in these states after Dobbs appear less dramatic.”

Even just one baby killed through abortion is a tragedy and a violation of basic human rights. But the stats show that abortion restrictions do reduce the killing of preborn babies; states including Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina have seen success, although the availability of chemical abortion drugs may limit the effectiveness of their restrictions.

The evidence that bans do prevent abortions should provide further reasons why pro-life legislation is both effective and necessary for saving human life.