Young woman contemplating at home
The impact of last year’s United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade continues to ripple across society. Advocates warn that the decision will disproportionately affect young people who may not have the means to travel the many miles they may need to for a legal abortion.
Now, a new survey of 400 young adults quantifies the influence the Supreme Court’s decision may be having on Hispanic GenZers.
The survey was conducted by Chispa, a dating app for U.S.-based Latinos, in partnership with the Center for Multicultural Science, a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank focused on multicultural marketing research. Respondents were drawn from a nationally representative sample of Hispanic college students aged 18 to 24.
The survey found that nearly one-third (29%) of young people surveyed reported having less casual sex because of the Supreme Court’s decision and 23% said they’ve changed their contraception plan as a result of the decision.
About one in five took things further: 21% said they paused on dating after learning about the Court’s decision and 17% reported pausing sexual relations with their partner.
Among Hispanic female college students who completed the survey, two-thirds said they are worried they may not have access to reproductive services in the future.
Overall, 61% of respondents said they feel the United States is regressing to the 1950s.
Global progress on contraceptives
These findings come against a backdrop of global progress in access to modern birth control methods, such as birth control pills or intrauterine devices (IUDs).
According to the Family Planning 2030 Measurement Report 2022, an estimated 371 million women and girls aged 15 to 49 residing in low- and lower-middle-income countries are now using a modern contraception method. That figure represents an increase of 87 million women using modern contraceptives.
In 14 of the countries studied, the number of contraceptive users has more than doubled in the past ten years. By region, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest rates of increase in contraceptive use between 2012 and 2022—6.2% and 4.6%, respectively.
Overall, one in three women of reproductive age in low- and lower-middle-income countries is now using modern contraception, with the highest rates in Europe and Central Asia (41.6%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (40.9%).
The report says that this expanded use of contraception has averted more than 141 million unintended pregnancies, 29 million unsafe abortions, and nearly 150,000 maternal deaths in the last year alone.
On the other hand, the report details that 50 million women in these countries report using a traditional birth control method. These women are concentrated in 16 countries, which account for 80% of women using traditional methods. Most are in the Asia-Pacific region.
Abortion restrictions curtail, but don’t end abortions
For women who do have unwanted pregnancies in these countries, abortion—legal and otherwise—remains an option. Global analysis shows that in places where abortion is restricted, there are only about 25% fewer abortions than in countries where abortion is broadly legal, according to an analysis published earlier this year in Nature.
That analysis showed that in middle-income countries where abortion is broadly legal, the abortion rate was just under 50 per 1,000 women aged 18 to 49 compared with just under 40 per 1,000 in countries where abortion is restricted.
Nature also reports that where abortions are restricted, those abortions that do occur tend to be less safe. Researchers found that nearly 90% of abortions performed in countries that allow it are considered safe. In contrast, only about 25% of abortions performed in countries where abortion is not allowed or only allowed in limited circumstances are considered safe.
Young women will vote with their feet for abortion access
The Chispa/Center for Multicultural Science survey shows that young Hispanic women in the United States are not just having less sex out of fear that they may not have access to abortion care if they need it. They’re also looking for support from future employers. More than 75% of the women surveyed said they would consider working for a company that supports women’s reproductive rights over one that does not.
These women may need all the support they can get, as states are moving to restrict abortion against voters’ will and the GOP is pushing for increasingly tough abortion policies ahead of the 2024 election.
