However, there are legitimate methodological concerns with the #WeCount abortion estimates. In its most recentanalysis, it compares twelve months of post-Dobbs data to only two months of pre-Dobbs data. The #WeCount analysts clearly needed to collect more pre-Dobbs abortion data to properly analyze the impact of the Dobbs decision.

Furthermore, pro-life policies resulted in abortion declines before the Dobbs decision. Texas started enforcing its Heartbeat Act on September 1, 2021. Oklahoma started enforcing a heartbeat act in May 2022. That makes the post-Dobbs abortion declines in these states appear less dramatic and complicates the #WeCount analysis.

Methodological concerns about the #WeCount data aside, a growing body of state-level birth data provide powerful statistical evidence that recently enacted pro-life laws have saved thousands of lives. My Charlotte Lozier Institute analysis from November 2022 and an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2023 both found that the Texas Heartbeat Act saved over 1,000 lives every month. Also, in an analysis from November 2023, the Institute of Labor Economics compared birth-rate data with 24 states where abortion remained legal with 14 states that passed strong pro-life laws after Dobbs. Overall, it found that pro-life laws enacted after the Dobbs decision have saved over 32,000 lives.