The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on abortion care utilization and disparities by age

Abstract

BackgroundA variety of state-level restrictions were placed on abortion care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to drops in utilization and delays in time to abortion. Other pandemic-related factors also may have impacted receipt of abortion care, potentially exacerbating existing barriers to care. Massachusetts is an ideal setting to study the impact of these other pandemic-related factors on abortion care utilization because there was no wide-scale abortion policy change in response to the pandemic.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on abortion care utilization and disparities in utilization by patient age in Massachusetts.Study DesignUsing the electronic medical records from all abortions that occurred at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts from May 1, 2017 through December 31, 2020 (N=35,411), we performed time series modeling to estimate monthly changes in the number of abortions from the expected counts during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also assessed if legal minors (<18 years) experienced delays in time to abortion, based on gestational age at procedure, and whether minors were differentially impacted by the pandemic.ResultsThere were 1725 less abortions than expected, corresponding to a 20% drop, from March 2020 to December 2020 (95% prediction interval, −2025 to −1394) with 888 less (20% reduction) abortions among adults, 792 (20% reduction) less among young adults, and 45 (27% reduction) among minors. Adults and young adults experienced significant reductions in the number of abortions beginning in March 2020, whereas decreases among minors did not begin until July 2020. The rate of abortions occurring ≥12 weeks gestational age was unchanged during the COVID-19 pandemic among minors (adjusted rate ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.55–1.51) and among adults (adjusted rate ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–1.09). Young adults had a lower rate of second trimester abortion during the pandemic (adjusted rate ratio, 0.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.66–0.95).ConclusionDespite uninterrupted abortion service provision, abortion care utilization decreased markedly in Massachusetts during the pandemic. There was no evidence of an increase in second trimester abortions in any age group. Further research is needed to determine if a decline in the pregnancy rate or other factors, such as financial and travel barriers, fear of infection, or privacy concerns, may have contributed to this decline.