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Report: Abortion rates up in Maine, nationally


{p}Like the rest of the nation, abortion rates in Maine are rising as well, up by 16 percent between 2017 and 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (WGME){/p}

Like the rest of the nation, abortion rates in Maine are rising as well, up by 16 percent between 2017 and 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (WGME)

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PORTLAND (WGME) – Abortion rates are up nationally, reversing a roughly 30-year trend.

A new report from a pro-choice research organization found there were 8 percent more abortions in 2020 than in 2017.

The report from the Guttmacher Institute found that one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020.

Like the rest of the nation, abortion rates in Maine are rising as well, up by 16 percent between 2017 and 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

“It's no surprise to us when you expand access and expand coverage for abortion care, you are going to see a slight uptick,” Nicole Clegg of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said.

In 2019, the legislature passed a bill allowing the use of state Medicaid funds to pay for abortion care.

“Which meant that people who couldn't afford to have an abortion could now afford to have an abortion,” Clegg said.

Groups like the Christian Civic League were opposed to the bill, because they're pro-life and were opposed to using government money on abortion.

“We did see an increase when that law was enacted in 2019,” Maine family Planning VP for Development and Community Engagement Mareisa Weil said.

Weil thinks the pandemic and economic worries may have also played a role in the increase.

“To me, it makes a lot of sense that people might not be ready to bring a child into the world at a time of such profound instability," Weil said.

With the Supreme Court seemingly poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, that could mean more people traveling longer distances for the procedure soon.

“As a healthcare provider, we are working to make sure that our abortion program is able to accommodate folks who might traveling to our state to access care,” Clegg said.

Weil says the concern is that those out-of-state residents would likely head to Portland to see a provider, causing a bottle neck of patients.

“And then that has a ripple effect on our whole system and network of care,” Weil said. “All the way throughout the state.”

Planned Parenthood says it expects the Supreme Court decision to come down by the end of the month.

The soonest that could happen would be next Tuesday.

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