This inference is alarming and it has garnered significant press, including articles in Vox and The New York Times. However, there’s a basic misunderstanding at the core of the research that could harm women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health care—particularly affordable and safe abortions.

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Stephens-Davidowitz’s research mistakenly conflates “self-induced abortion” with “illegal abortion,” though the two terms apply to two very different procedures. A self-induced abortion is simply an abortion that can be conducted within the comfort of one’s home. That includes medical abortions, also referred to as the “abortion pill,” which can be used to end early-term pregnancies. An illegal abortion, on the other hand, is often what we think of as a “coat hanger abortion”—it’s one of the risky procedures women undergo when other options (such as self-induced medication abortions) are not available.

Self-induced abortions are safe and fairly common: They accounted for 31 percent of all nonhospital abortions in 2014. “People choose to self-induce for a variety of reasons,” said Jill Adams, founding executive director of the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law. “The flexibility of conducting the procedure at home on one’s own timeline is paramount, and self-induced abortion can be significantly cheaper than surgical abortion.”

But misinformation about self-induced abortion, namely that using the abortion pill is a dangerous practice, could ultimately make it harder to access. Anti-choice advocates and legislators have seized on this type of misinformation in the past, most notably through TRAP lawsTargeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws, are specific legal requirements for abortion providers that are different (and more difficult to comply with) than the requirements for other medical practices. Examples include specifying specific hallway widths, staffing requirements, or admitting privileges. that require medically unnecessary updates to clinics that provide abortions as an indirect way to reduce abortions.

If that happens, it will hit women with few other options the hardest. Medical abortion is particularly crucial for people who would otherwise struggle to access reproductive health care, including people living in rural areas and women of color. Rural patients face clear physical barriers: 31 percent of women living in rural areas traveled more than 100 miles to access abortion services, and an additional 43 percent traveled between 50 and 100 miles. For women of color, who often suffer from a variety of barriers to abortion—such as financial instability, limited access to a broad range of providers, and distance from clinics—medication abortion can be the most cost-effective and low-risk abortion procedure.

There’s a chance that the searches Stephens-Davidowitz reports could simply represent an increase in medically accurate information. Telemedicine has revolutionized abortion care for the aforementioned groups. In 2006, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa launched a telemedicine service that provided medical abortion care at rural clinics. The initiative was wildly successful: Research showed that telemedicine availability increased access to abortion care for people living in remote parts of the state. Moreover, the study showed that telemedicine availability increased access for women seeking abortion services at earlier gestational stages, for which medical abortion could be a silver bullet against the cost, distance, and stigma of an in-clinic abortion. In short, Google results for “self-induced abortion” may have ticked up because more women are simply aware that it exists.

While it seems intuitive that restrictive abortion laws would increase the incidence of illegal abortions, the inference that Stephens-Davidowitz draws about self-induced abortions is not necessarily backed up by the Google search data. Clear, detailed terminology is critical in discussing abortion, especially when the consequences can result in devastating outcomes for people seeking health care. Mistaken inferences, even when they have good intentions, have harmful consequences when placed in the nefarious hands of anti-choice activists—and can result in even more limitations on women’s health care.

In 2011, the Texas state legislature barred Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program and excluded from state health plans any clinic affiliated with an abortion provider. This policy decision has had damaging consequences for some of the most vulnerable women in the state. A recent report found that in counties where Texas defunded Planned Parenthood affiliates, there was a dip in usage of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) and injectable contraceptives—the most effective forms of contraception available. During this time period, there was also an increase in births to mothers covered by Medicaid. Given that this surge in births occurred in the very counties where women faced new barriers to accessing contraceptives, it is highly probable that many of them were unplanned.

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These troubling outcomes are also likely attributable to the Texas omnibus abortion law—known as the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (TRAP) law—which went into effect the same year that Planned Parenthood was excluded from state health plans. TRAP includes a number of provisions that make it more burdensome for women to obtain abortions. Among the provisions are bans on abortions that occur after 20 weeks, restrictions on medication abortions, and a requirement that physicians have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they perform abortions. A challenge to the law is currently before the Supreme Court.

Together, these restrictive policies have threatened not only women’s reproductive health and autonomy but also their economic security. Women without coverage are more likely to forgo care in order to prioritize other basic needs like food, rent, and childcare. And some low-income patients in states with restrictive abortion laws now face prices that are triple the cost of what women in states with access and availability pay for care. The scarcity of these services also means that many women have to travel hundreds of miles to obtain annual wellness visits, cancer screenings, and maternal care. Many of these women will lose wages to travel time and, adding insult to injury, will incur the additional expenses of transportation, food, and childcare.

Perhaps most horrific of all, we know that women who have lost access to services are now attempting to self-abort in the absence of accessible and affordable abortion care. The true irony is that by enacting harmful policies targeting abortion—a safe and legal medical procedure—policymakers have jeopardized the ability for low-income women in particular to make timely and informed decisions about reproduction.

And yet, the abortion war continues to rear its ugly head. In 2015 alone, 17 states passed more than 50 abortion restrictions. Eleven states slashed funding to Planned Parenthood or any clinic that provides abortion care among its health services. As states continue to introduce this kind of harmful legislation under false pretenses, one truth remains the same: the legal right to abortion and other reproductive health services means nothing without the ability to affordably and reasonably access it.

While the Supreme Court weighs the merits of Texas’s TRAP law, and the women of Ohio brace for an uncertain future, these states should be a cautionary tale not only for 2016, but for years to come.

In truth, the promise of Roe existed in both spirit and law for just 2 years. From 1973-1975 abortion was legal and covered by the Medicaid program, which ensured that low-income women had equal access to abortion care. But in 1975, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment that restricted federal dollars from paying for abortion services for poor women. Since then advocates, activists, and legislators alike have struggled to maintain the essence of Roe as state legislatures took the lead on passing laws reminiscent of a pre-Roe era.

For decades reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates have fought to protect the legalization of abortion only to see its access and availability eroded at both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, the Hyde Amendment spawned similar amendments that restrict abortion coverage for military personnel, veterans, federal employees, Peace Corp volunteers, Indian and Native women, and incarcerated women. And in 1992, the Supreme Court issued a divided judgment in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs. Casey that weakened Roe considerably. On the one hand, it upheld key provisions of Roe, namely that states cannot ban abortion before the point of viability of the fetus. But it also ruled that states could regulate abortions to protect the life of the woman or the fetus; medical technology could alter the point of viability; and, no law could impose an undue burden on women to obtain legal abortion services. Moreover, the court found that the 24-hour waiting period laws were not an undue burden. This Supreme Court decision, unfortunately, is the law of the land.

These federal budget amendments and Supreme Court rulings opened the door for state legislators to incrementally – and creatively – circumvent a woman’s right to determine if and when she will parent and to do so with dignity. Thus far, states have been allowed to pass extreme restrictions, and in doing so perpetuate a cycle of oppression for the most vulnerable women, namely those living in states with high rates of poverty, limited access to preventive services, and other regressive policies such as voter ID laws and right-to-work laws. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 30 states have enacted more than 205 abortion restrictions since 2011.

Texas, the poster child for anti-woman policies, offers proof of just how burdensome accessing abortion services can be for low-income women and families. Since 2013 Texas has cut family planning services and passed a law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles, as one provision of the Targeted Regulation Abortion Providers (TRAP) legislation. Since the TRAP legislation passed Texas has gone from having 41 clinics to 17. A federal appeals court will determine this year if the TRAP building code provisions – such as the widening of hallways and increasing airflow – are constitutional. These new laws, combined with an already long list of restrictions, have made Texas one of the most hostile states for women’s health in the nation.  Previous restrictions include mandatory counseling that is biased; a 24-hour waiting period between counseling and having the procedure; mandatory ultrasounds; a prohibition on Medicaid coverage; and a prohibition on medication abortion provided via telemedicine.

Moreover, the cost for low-income women can be devastating. In Texas, one in six women must drive in excess of 200 miles to reach a clinic providing services. The 24-hour waiting period almost guarantees that those arriving from border towns or rural areas will have to pay for a hotel. If she is already a parent, as most women who have abortions are, she may need to pay for childcare too. Those working in low-wage jobs most likely do not have paid leave and could risk losing income or job if they take time off. And the cost of first trimester abortions without insurance coverage is approximately $500. But the longer a woman waits, the higher the costs will be. Research shows that too often women forgo basic needs – like paying rent – in order to obtain this legal medical procedure. Collectively or individually, these factors can force low-income women into worse financial circumstances.

We celebrate Roe as a standard and a vision that we must continue to strive for as a nation. All women, regardless of age, gender, income, socio-economic status, or funding source of insurance should benefit from its promise. And our fight for justice isn’t done until all woman have comprehensive reproductive health care, including the access to abortion services.