On Wednesday, the Society of Family Planning released updated abortion estimates from their #WeCount project. Their new estimates include monthly U.S. abortion totals up to September 2023. The new data purportedly show that between July 2023 and September 2023 approximately 81,000 to 89,000 abortions were performed every month. According to their report, these figures are comparable to monthly abortion numbers prior to the Dobbs decision.  This spin has been eagerly picked up by a number of mainstream-media outlets including the Associated Press, the Hill, and U.S. News and World Report.

Not surprisingly, the same methodological flaws that were present in past #WeCount estimates are present in this current version. Specifically, the #WeCount project compares monthly post-Dobbs abortion data to pre-Dobbs abortion data. However, it estimated abortions for only two months prior to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. That is a very small sample size. It should be also noted that Texas and Oklahoma were both enforcing strong pro-life laws before Dobbs. That reduces the pre-Dobbs abortion estimates and makes any post-Dobbs decline appear less dramatic.