The demand for abortion-inducing medication spiked in the month after Texas significantly limited abortion access and has remained high since, according to new data from a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin.
The study reviewed requests for abortion-inducing medication made to Aid Access, an international nonprofit that provides the medication via the internet to people who cannot otherwise legally access the procedure. Prior to September 2021, the organization typically received an average of 10.8 requests a day from Texans.
Then, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 8, which prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which many people do not know they are pregnant. In the first week after the law went into effect on Sept. 1, Aid Access received an average of 137.7 daily requests from Texas, an increase of over 1000%.
"That big of a spike in requests shows us the uncertainty and chaos created by Senate Bill 8 going into effect," said Abigail Aiken, the lead researcher on the study. "If it's not certain that you can go to a clinic and get the care that you need, people will be looking around for what other options they have."
The demand for the medication has remained higher than normal in the months since, Aiken found.