Unwilling to Disclose: Privacy and Pregnancy in Post- Roe America

Abstract On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion across the United States. The Dobbs decision created a disrupted and fragmented policy environment, with significant losses of reproductive rights in some US states and high levels of uncertainty in others. We analyze data from the nation’s premier health survey to examine whether Dobbs influenced women’s willingness to disclose whether they are pregnant. We find that women became more likely to refuse to disclose their pregnancy status in the wake of the Dobbs decision. This effect emerges most strongly among younger women and among those living in states where abortion rights were not actively threatened. Our results suggest that Dobbs may have reduced women’s willingness to share their pregnancy status through presenting policy change threat, with concerning implications for survey research, health policy, and women’s health.