"In September, after Texas enacted the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation, the number of legal abortions performed there dropped 50 percent from the same month in 2020, according to data released Friday by a group of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
"The Texas law bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, which is generally when women are around six weeks pregnant. No prior Texas abortion restriction has been followed by a drop so steep. But it is also smaller than many experts predicted. Before the ban, 84 percent of people seeking abortions in Texas were more than six weeks pregnant at their appointment, according to previous research from the same group, the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. It evaluates the effect of Texas legislation on reproductive health and has been independently tallying abortions in the state since 2017."