COVID-19 and abortion in the Ohio River Valley: A case study of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Introduction: During early stages of COVID-19 in the United States, government representatives in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia restricted or threatened to restrict abortion care under elective surgery bans. We examined how abortion utilization changed in these states.

Methodology: We examined COVID-19 abortion-related state policies implemented in March and April 2020 using publicly available sources.

Abortion Access in Ohio's Changing Legislative Context, 2010-2018.

To examine abortion utilization in Ohio from 2010 to 2018, a period when more than 15 abortion-related laws became effective. We evaluated changes in abortion rates and ratios examining gestation, geographic distribution, and abortion method in Ohio from 2010 to 2018. We used data from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Abortion Surveillance Reports, the American Community Survey, and Ohio's Public Health Data Warehouse.