Third Anniversary of Dobbs’ Decision

June 24, 2025, marked the three-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, ruling that the Constitution does not contain a right to abortion and allowing state-legislatures to pass laws limiting abortions. That has led to the U.S. abortion landscape changing dramatically. The following paragraphs explore some of those key developments, including mifepristone safety, number of abortions, abortion clinic federal funding, emergency room mandates, and non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood.

MIFIPRISTONE SAFETY:  Now used in two-thirds of U.S. abortions—often via telehealth and mail in states like Colorado—mifepristone is claimed to be “safer than Tylenol.” However, an April 28, 2025 study of over 865,000 cases found 10.93% (1 in 9 women) suffered serious complications of sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging or other serious and life-threatening effects requiring ER visits within 45 days of using mifepristone for an abortion—22 times higher than the FDA’s outdated 0.5% estimate based on much smaller studies  (https://eppc.org/stop-harming-women/). In response, Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA have been ordered to conduct a full review of mifepristone safety (tinyurl.com/mrxfwbay). Experts urge restoring original safety protocols: physician-only prescriptions, in-person visits, and supervised administration of the drug.

NUMBER OF ABORTIONS: In the last 33 years, pressure to increase abortion availability from presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden, led to the current situation where a mifepristone abortion now requires as little as one telehealth visit with any approved healthcare provider (not necessarily a physician), and a woman may self-administer drugs obtained from a mail-order pharmacy. These unregulated conditions have led to a slight increase in the number of surgical and medical abortions since the Dobb’s decision. The Guttmacher Institute found a 1% increase in abortions from 2023 to 2024 (tinyurl.com/5ywc9n58). But the cost to women getting a medical abortion is that 1 in every 9 of them end up going to a hospital emergency room.

ABORTION CLINIC FEDERAL FUNDING: Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report was released May 14, 2025, and shows a 13% increase in federal funding, from $700 million in 2023 to $792 million in 2024.  However, passage of the massive federal budget bill on July 3, 2025, revokes Medicare funding of Planned Parenthood and any other ‘prohibited entities’ that perform elective abortions, causing an estimated $500 million loss to Planned Parenthood in the coming year (tinyurl.com/4vc8ccwj). Hopefully, that loss of funding will lead to the closing of clinics like Planned Parenthood in Fort Collins which called an ambulance for an 18-year-old who later died at Poudre Valley Hospital on February 6, 2025. Dr. Kiri Kasun testified to a Colorado House committee that the 18-year-old’s death was caused by an amniotic fluid embolism following abortion complications (see tinyurl.com/4bn6f9zf, 12:09:43 PM, & 12:16:10 PM).

NON-ABORTION SERVICES AT PP: Despite a 13% funding boost, Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services, like breast exams, Pap tests, and cancer screenings, fell 8–12% last year—continuing a 62–74% drop over a past decade (tinyurl.com/yexd2kjx, tinyurl.com/yxf2svxa). While some claim abortion clinic closures would hurt women’s health, Colorado has 407 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) offering medical care without abortions, compared to just 11 Planned Parenthood abortion-performing clinics. Real health care access wouldn’t suffer with the closure of abortion clinics. Dr Christina Francis notes abortion is not health care because “induced abortion carries no maternal health benefit and ends the life of a separate human being” (tinyurl.com/54e98d9k).

EMERGENCY ROOM MANDATES: Under the Biden/Harris administration, emergency rooms were required to perform abortions under Biden’s “guidance” of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), forcing faith-based hospitals to hire abortion doctors. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris stated that doctors shouldn't be allowed to refuse to do abortions based on faith or ethics (Reporter Herald, Nov 2, 2024, Kathleen Parker editorial). In 2025, President Trump rescinded this guidance (tinyurl.com/5n78pmde).

These were only a few key topics relative to the 3rd Anniversary of the Dobbs Decision. As a call-to-action, I recommend that you contact the following four Colorado members of the US House to thank them for their July 3, 2025 vote to defund abortion clinics for a year: Jeff Hurd (hurd.house.gov), Lauren Boebert (boebert.house.gov), Jeff Crank (crank.house.gov), Gabe Evans (gabeevans.house.gov). Send email to lloydbenes50@gmail.com to give feedback on this article.

Lloyd Benes, retired engineer. Resident of Loveland, Colorado.