According to new data from the Guttmacher Institute, more than 170,000 people have traveled out of state to receive abortion care since January of last year. This number is highlighted by the fact that accessing care is becoming more difficult in some jurisdictions.
According to the data, between March of this year and 2023, around 15 percent of the predicted 1 million abortion operations performed by clinicians were performed outside of the state. Since 2020, that amount has increased by over 100%.
“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,” Guttmacher data scientist Isaac Maddow-Zimet stated.
“Despite the amazing resiliency of abortion patients and providers, we can’t lose sight of the fact that this is neither normal nor acceptable,” he added. “A person should not have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to receive basic health care.”
Due to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling, which invalidated a previous federal standard requiring access to abortion procedures, fourteen states now have almost total restrictions on abortion.
Most abortions performed in states that border those with recent near-total bans—Kansas and New Mexico, for example—are performed on patients from outside the state. One of the strictest abortion laws in the nation is found in Texas.
Up until early this year, Florida was one of the neighboring states with the easiest access to abortion treatment. In May, the state strictly outlawed abortions performed before six weeks.
Regarding Florida’s ban, Guttmacher Vice President Kelly Baden stated, “The state of residence data makes it clear that this policy change will be devastating not only for Floridians, but also for the thousands of others who would have traveled there after being denied care in their home states. Once again, we see that a state’s abortion policies affect thousands of people beyond that state’s borders.”
There may be political repercussions to the new prohibitions. This November, a number of states, including Florida, will have abortion rights referendums on the ballot. Democrats are hoping that by using these initiatives, voter turnout will rise.
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The institute also discovered that medicine was used in two thirds of the estimated 1 million abortions.
Up until last week, when the Supreme Court decided that the federal government can restrict access to some abortion medications, that approach was in jeopardy due to a federal lawsuit.
