In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, many supporters of legal abortion expressed confidence that pro-life laws would have a negative impact on public health. Pro-choicers claimed, among other things, that many OBGYNs would depart states with strong pro-life laws. Some states would become maternity-care deserts, making it more difficult for women and girls to receive necessary medical care there.

On Monday, however, the journal JAMA Network Open published a study that nicely debunks that narrative. The authors obtained data on all practicing OBGYNs from a national health-care registry. Since June 2022, they found, states with strong pro-life laws saw a larger increase in the number of practicing OBGYNs.

Specifically, they found that the number of practicing OBGYNs increased by 8.3 percent in states where abortion is banned, and by 10.5 percent in states where abortion is threatened. However, in states where abortion was legally protected, the number of OBGYNs increased by only 7.7 percent. Additionally, when the authors considered location decisions among recent residency graduates, they found similar trends in states with strong pro-life laws and states where abortion is legal.

All in all, these results are unsurprising. Surveys consistently show that a low percentage of OBGYNs perform abortions. The legal status of abortion would likely have little impact on the decisions of most OBGYNs as to where to move or locate their practice.

In recent years, academic journals have become more politicized. The authors and JAMA Open Network deserve credit for publishing this study. That said, aside from CNN.com and a few online public health publications, no other media outlets have covered this study. However, this too is unsurprising. Mainstream media typically provide scant coverage of studies that contradict talking points issued by pro-abortion groups.