States With out Whole Abortion Bans See Declines in Clinician-Offered Abortions and Out-of-State Sufferers

In Illinois, abortion provision declined by 9% between the primary halves of 2024 and 2025—with 71% of this decline resulting from a lower within the variety of sufferers who traveled to Illinois throughout this era and the rest resulting from declines amongst Illinois residents. In New Mexico, declines in out-of-state journey accounted for the entire 15% decline in caseloads noticed between the primary halves of 2024 and 2025. Kansas and Colorado—different main locations for out-of-state sufferers—additionally noticed declines in out-of-state journey throughout this era.

Still, out-of-state journey for abortion care stays considerably larger than pre-Dobbs ranges and making a welcoming coverage and provision local weather for folks touring for care ought to proceed to be a precedence for governors, state attorneys basic, state legislators, advocates and clinicians. Importantly, some states noticed will increase within the variety of out-of-state sufferers between the primary halves of 2024 and 2025. In New York, for instance, out-of-state journey elevated by 51% throughout this era, possible resulting from a rise in folks touring from Florida. Taking into consideration our findings for all states with out whole bans, nevertheless, journey for abortion care seems to be on the decline, possible resulting from a variety of components.

Shield legal guidelines are possible contributing to those adjustments

Eight abortion-protective states have enacted defend legal guidelines that present authorized protections for clinicians to prescribe and mail abortion drugs on to sufferers in states with whole abortion bans or telehealth restrictions, providing these sufferers a essential level of entry regardless of their states’ extremist insurance policies. Consequently, on-line clinics providing abortion care to people in ban states are increasing.

While defend regulation provision is probably not an acceptable or most well-liked possibility for some sufferers—these at later gestational durations, for instance, or those that want procedural abortion to medicine abortion—this essential innovation is probably going a key consider lowering journey for abortion care, notably by residents of states with whole bans. As the Monthly Abortion Provision Study solely captures abortions occurring in states with out whole abortion bans, it’s doable that growing defend regulation provision to states with whole bans may partially account for the declines in general caseloads and journey between the primary halves of 2024 and 2025. Nationally, the #WeCount project estimates that 40,890 abortions have been supplied below defend legal guidelines to states with whole bans within the second half of 2024, up from 35,250 within the first half of the 12 months.

Logistical and monetary boundaries to journey can also be driving this shift

Travel throughout state traces can come at a big price for sufferers, who should consider transportation, lodging, childcare, day without work work, and a wide range of different bills, along with the price of the abortion itself. Some sufferers can also take into account elevated dangers of journey associated to rising ICE exercise and anti-immigrant hostility. The intensive efforts of clinicians, abortion funds and sensible help organizations (in addition to sufferers themselves) have been key in facilitating interstate journey for abortion. However, this work is probably not sustainable; abortion funds in ban states like Texas in addition to protective states like New York are reporting decreased donations whereas prices for abortion and associated companies are rising, doubtlessly lowering help for out-of-state vacationers.

Options for journey, in the meantime, are more and more constricted for a lot of residents of states with whole bans. In the primary half of 2024, over 3,000 people traveled to Florida for abortion care; within the first half of 2025, with the six-week ban in place, simply 1,130 did so. Virginia is now one of two states in the Southeast that permits abortion past six weeks, and the one one with no pressured ready interval. As a outcome, residents of the area could also be more and more reluctant to journey, as there are few close by choices for care. Those who can not journey, and don’t acquire care by way of defend regulation provision, could also be self-managing their abortions or be pressured to stay pregnant.

The Data Point to Critical Policy Interventions

This early have a look at the 2025 abortion provision panorama sheds gentle on how altering components are impacting abortion entry—and the way policymakers and advocates can help sufferers regardless of the anti-abortion local weather of many states and the threats to abortion entry posed by the Trump administration.

Shield regulation protections have expanded care choices for folks in ban states, and it’s of little shock that such legal guidelines are a key goal of the anti-abortion motion. From litigation to legislation, conservative legal professionals and policymakers are weaponizing the authorized system in an try to remove this essential modality of care. More states ought to go defend legal guidelines with express protections for telehealth provision and policymakers ought to proceed to research the availability panorama to guage and strengthen current defend regulation protections. States must also observe Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Vermont and Washington in allowing shield law providers’ names to be removed from prescription labels and changed with the names of their well being care amenities to guard delicate information, together with contemplating different information privateness protections.

In addition to enacting defend legal guidelines, policymakers can handle the monetary burdens imposed on sufferers touring out of state for abortion care. States and cities can fund abortions straight and must also consider these monetary help applications to make sure environment friendly and well timed entry for sufferers. States may also take into account following Maryland’s modern use of unspent Affordable Care Act surcharge savings to supplement abortion funds.

Tracking state-level abortion provision is essential to analyzing the impacts of adjusting abortion insurance policies and providing a roadmap for lawmakers in every single place to guard entry to important well being care. While everybody deserves entry to abortion when, the place and the way they need it, the fact is that hostile coverage climates and monetary and logistical boundaries forestall many individuals from getting the abortion care they search. These new information from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study, indicating a reversal of latest traits in abortion provision, can thus supply essential new insights into how state insurance policies and abortion funding networks affect sufferers’ potential to entry care.

Methodology

Data are drawn from Guttmacher’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study, which produces estimates of the variety of abortions supplied by clinicians in states with out whole abortion bans primarily based on information collected from samples of abortion suppliers. Estimates embrace abortions supplied at brick-and-mortar amenities (together with people who use telehealth) and online-only suppliers (together with suppliers who mail abortion drugs to sufferers in states with out whole bans below the safety of defend legal guidelines). These estimates don’t embrace self-managed abortions or any abortions involving medicine mailed to states with whole abortion bans (both self-managed or supplied by out-of-state clinicians).