Out-of-state abortions have significantly increased

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, 14 states have enacted near total abortion bans with limited exceptions, including when the patient's life being at risk, rape, incest, or fetal anomalies.

With several states now banning abortion, many patients have had to travel out of state to receive abortion care. According to data from Guttmacher, more than 171,000 patients traveled out of state to receive abortion care in 2023 — more than double the 73,100 patients who did the same in 2019. Currently, out-of-state abortions make up almost 20% of all recorded abortions.

"What's striking about this new data is how often people are traveling across multiple state lines to access abortion care," said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at Guttmacher who leads its Monthly Abortion Provision Study project. "Traveling for abortion care requires individuals to overcome huge financial and logistical barriers, and our findings show just how far people will travel to obtain the care they want and deserve."

Although most patients in states with strict bans traveled to a neighboring state to receive abortion care, patients in Southern states often had to travel across multiple state lines to get care.

For example, a 24-year-old woman from Georgia told the New York Times that she flew to New York City last summer after she discovered that she couldn't receive abortion care under Georgia's six-week ban.

Texas, the largest state to ban abortion, had 35,500 patients travel to receive abortion care in 2023, compared to 2,400 patients who did the same in 2019. The state that saw the most out-of-state patients was Illinois, which had 37,300 patients from 16 different states travel there to receive abortion care. In comparison, only 8,500 patients traveled to Illinois for abortion care in 2019.

"Abortion is one of the most common procedures in medicine," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of Whole Woman's Health, an organization that runs clinics in Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Virginia.

"We're having people travel hundreds or thousands of miles for a procedure that typically takes less than 10 minutes and can be done in a doctor's office setting," she said. "Nobody does that for any other medical procedure."

Overall, several states without restrictive bans had significant increases in the number of abortions patients received from 2019 to 2023, including Wyoming, New Mexico, and Kansas. In some states, the nonresident share of abortions was 40% or more. 

Abortion clinics and funds increase support for patients

According to the New York Times, abortion clinics and abortion funds have worked to expand access to services and provide financial support for patients traveling out of state for care.

"Now we have places where people who've been driving all night can nap in our clinics," said Hagstrom Mille. "We have couches. We have waiting rooms specifically for children, with toys. We bring in sandwiches and food."

States with liberal abortion laws have also made efforts to expand access to abortion. For example, Illinois has invested more than $23 million to increase access to abortion and reproductive healthcare since 2022. Providers in the state have also extended their clinic hours and increased staffing.

"Things are running along very smoothly," said Allison Cowett, medical director of Family Planning Associates, a Chicago clinic that has seen its patient volume double since 2018. "We've caught up to the speed of things. This is our new normal."

"It looks like the protective policies that the states are enacting do matter," said Kelly Baden, Guttmacher's VP for public policy. "But we should not be normalizing the reliance on networks of volunteers and donations."

Advisory Board's women's health resources

For more insights into women's health issues, including maternity care, check out Advisory Board's library of resources.

We have several resources on the top drivers of change in the maternal and reproductive health market, as well as the outlook for the women's health service line.

These ready-to-use-slides can also help you understand the trends impacting maternal and reproductive care and how they will impact cross-industry stakeholders. We also have research on health plans' top three priorities for maternal care.

To learn more about ways to improve women's health in the United States, this report outlines six key factors to take into consideration, including the roles of various healthcare stakeholders and the importance of cross-industry collaboration.

Advisory Board also has several resources on how to utilize technology in maternity care, including this cheat sheet on telehealth and maternity care and a case study on how digital solutions can improve access to maternity care.

For resources specifically related to abortion, we offer this infographic explaining the potential health outcomes for individuals denied abortions in their state, as well as an expert insight on the groups that are disproportionately impacted by abortion restrictions. This expert insight also explains how leaders can help their clinical workforce amid changing abortion laws. (Nguyen, USA Today, 6/17; Escobar et al., New York Times, 6/13)