How pro-life groups are misleading you on abortion numbers

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly four years ago, countless pro-life organizations have pushed new regulations on abortion. Many of those same groups have rushed to declare victory, claiming that conservative states are now “abortion-free.”

But when pro-life organizations declare any state “abortion-free,” they celebrate a victory that does not exist — and drastically overstate the impact of pro-life laws.

The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection.

These claims don’t just mislead. They undermine the cause these organizations claim to champion.

Exaggerating victories

The claim that some states are “abortion-free” isn’t rare. It has become standard messaging.

Students for Life published a map three years ago declaring that 14 states are now “abortion-free.” Frank Pavone, who leads Priests for Life, has made the same claim about Mississippi. National Right to Life called Kentucky “abortion-free” as recently as last summer. LifeNews has become notorious for amplifying inflated or misleading abortion claims from pro-life groups at the state level.

These declarations suggest abortion has been eliminated in these states. The reality says otherwise.

Pro-life leaders do not make clear that in every state labeled “abortion-free,” abortions remain legal for women who want to kill their preborn babies.

Many conservative states shut down abortion clinics and imposed penalties on providers. At the same time, those states wrote explicit exemptions into law protecting women from prosecution for willfully obtaining abortions.

That wasn’t a mistake. Pro-life organizations crafted and promoted that policy.

Self-induced abortions

Legal immunity for women who murder their preborn babies created a massive loophole. It also opened the door to a surge in self-induced abortions.

Women in “abortion-free” states can order abortion pills online from telehealth providers operating under shield laws in blue states or from overseas providers.

In many cases, it remains perfectly legal to order these pills, possess them, and use them at home. The scale of this practice — even in conservative states — is staggering.

Consider Kentucky, which National Right to Life called “abortion-free.”

In Kentucky, more than 2,800 women in 2024 received mail-order abortion pills through telehealth providers alone, according to data from the Society of Family Planning.

That does not include the more than 4,300 Kentucky women who traveled to other states for abortions in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It also does not capture self-induced abortions outside the formal medical system.

Kentucky is not an outlier.

RELATED: How a pro-life law in Kentucky lets mothers get away with murder

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When all available data is considered, the 14 conservative states that have banned or mostly banned abortion — the same states pro-life groups often call “abortion-free” — saw at least 250,000 preborn babies murdered in 2024.

That number represents a sharp increase from the 181,000 abortions recorded in those states in 2019.

In other words, pro-life laws have not created states with fewer abortions. They have created states where abortion has shifted away from clinics and toward self-induced abortions at home — abortions that remain legal for the mother who commits them.

How can abortion increase while pro-life organizations claim success? Because many have misrepresented what they mean by “abortion-free.”

When these groups say “abortion-free,” they mean abortion clinics have closed. They do not mean abortions have stopped. It’s like calling a city “crime-free” because the district attorney refuses to prosecute criminals. The semantics conceal the reality.

Opposing abolition

Even more troubling, major pro-life organizations often oppose the bills that would actually abolish abortion.

When lawmakers introduce equal protection bills — proposals that would make abortion illegal for everyone, including pregnant mothers — pro-life organizations often mobilize against them.

This has happened dozens of times across the country. The reasoning stays consistent: Pro-life groups insist women are victims of abortion and should not face legal consequences, even when they deliberately order abortion pills and self-induce abortions at home.

When pro-life groups oppose equal protection bills and then claim their states are “abortion-free,” they don’t merely exaggerate. They sabotage.

Everyday anti-abortion Americans hear “abortion-free” and assume the fight is over. Activism slows. Political pressure fades. Donations and support shift elsewhere. Meanwhile organizations that should be pressing for equal protection instead suppress the only laws that would actually end abortion.

In the meantime, abortion continues unabated — simply moved from clinics to living rooms.

The pro-life establishment has redefined victory to fit what it has achieved, not what it claims to seek. It has declared victory over a substitute target — abortion clinics — while the killing of preborn children continues through abortion pills and interstate travel.

RELATED: Why the pro-life movement fails without a Christian worldview

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Demanding honesty

Americans who oppose abortion deserve honesty from the organizations claiming to represent them.

If abortion can still be performed legally in a state through mail-order pills, that state is not “abortion-free.” If abortion numbers rise rather than fall, victory has not arrived. If pro-life groups oppose laws that would make abortion illegal for everyone, they owe the public an explanation.

Abolishing abortion requires equal protection under the law: making the killing of any human being illegal for everyone, without exception or compromise.

Until major pro-life organizations support that principle, their claims of creating “abortion-free” states remain not just premature but dishonest.

The preborn babies murdered under the cover of our laws deserve more than semantic victories. They deserve equal protection — and Americans who oppose abortion deserve leaders honest enough to admit when that goal remains unmet.