More than three million disabled women live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion since Dobbs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 1, 2024 – The National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) released a new analysis on post-Dobbs America, which finds that more than half of all disabled women live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion. The devastating impact of abortion bans puts the health and safety of more than 3 million disabled women at risk, and especially endangers disabled women who are Black, American Indian/Alaska Native and veterans.

This report coincides with the 97th anniversary of Buck v. Bell, one of the most shameful decisions in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States, which has yet to be expressly overturned. In Buck, the Supreme Court allowed Virginia to forcibly sterilize an institutionalized woman.

“Disabled people have long faced disgraceful, systemic attempts to restrict their reproductive freedom and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization only builds on this shameful legacy. The fact that 3 million disabled women now face abortion bans and steeper barriers to obtaining care is staggering, even more so when you consider that many are women of color, veterans or people with lower incomes,” said Jocelyn C. Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “Let’s be clear: controlling and dismantling the reproductive health choices of disabled people is the goal – not an accident. That is why policymakers must be intentional in enacting targeted solutions that defend and expand reproductive freedom for disabled people.”

“Disabled people’s lives, health and economic stability are at stake,” said Marissa Ditkowsky, Disability Economic Justice Counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families. “Disabled people, and particularly disabled people of color, have historically faced significant challenges to their reproductive autonomy rooted in eugenics. These barriers – which include provider discrimination, denials of care, transportation difficulties, inaccessibility in health care facilities, the costs of care and more – have only been exacerbated by Dobbs.

According to the National Partnership’s analysis, these extreme obstacles put millions of disabled women at risk including:

• More than 3 million disabled women of reproductive age (15-49) who live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion since Dobbs;
• Roughly 6 in 10 Black disabled women and 6 in 10 American Indian/Alaska Native disabled women who live in these states;
• Nearly 6 in 10 disabled women veterans in the U.S. who live in these states;
• More than half of disabled women in the Midwest and nearly 90 percent of disabled women in the South who live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion;
• More than half of all disabled women who are economically insecure who live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion; and
• Close to 6 in 10 disabled women living in institutional group quarters, which include jails, prisons, intermediate care facilities, and nursing facilities, who live in these 26 states.

Read the full analysis, which includes data for each of the 26 states, here.

Read other resources on abortion access:

• State Abortion Bans Threaten 6.7 Million Latinas
• State Abortion Bans Harm More Than 15 Million Women of Color

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Llenda Jackson-Leslie
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