United States: A new Guttmacher Institute report shows that American abortion seekers performed fewer interstate procedures in 2024.
The study discovered that state border crossings for abortion services decreased by 9% from 2023 to reach 155,000 people, as reported by HealthDay.
Overall Numbers Hold Steady
The Washington Post reported that states allowing abortions experienced no change in their total abortion numbers at 1,038,100 cases recorded.
Travel has emerged as a critical concern after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Roe v. Wade in 2022 thus dissolving the constitutional right to abortion. The Supreme Court chose Wade in 2022 which eliminated the constitutional protection for abortion rights.
A substantial number of states passed comprehensive abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s decision which forced numerous patients to seek medical treatment outside their home region.
“It’s not just the cost of travel itself or the cost of the procedure,” Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, told The Post. “It’s also the kind of navigational support of trying to figure out how to navigate a patchwork of laws, find a clinic with appointment availability, get child care — most abortion patients have children — find accommodation, often for multiple days.”
One explanation is that while the need for abortion travel has increased, donations to support it have decreased.
“We know that there was a big increase in donations to those organizations immediately post-[Roe’s reversal]. We know also that those donations have dropped off substantially, and then at the same time, we have increased need,” Maddow-Zimet said.
Patients can obtain abortion pills via virtual services from protected providers under shield laws in provinces that shield doctors from prosecution according to The Post.
Telehealth Abortion on the Rise
Telehealth abortions increased nationwide from 4% in April 2022 until June 2024, when the procedure reached 20%, according to the Society of Family Planning data, which shows monthly telehealth abortion numbers exceeding 19,000.
Patients “can still get safe, legal care from a licensed practitioner without having to make child-care arrangements or skip work or school,” said Julie Kay, executive director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, an abortion rights group.
“They don’t have to travel in isolation; they don’t have to deal with clinic harassment,” she added.
Illinois and North Carolina, together with Kansas and New Mexico, received the highest number of medical tourists for abortions.
Top Destination States for Abortion Access
New Mexico received 69% of all abortions, which originated in other states, particularly from Texas alongside Oklahoma, where such procedures remain forbidden.
The Post reported that Virginia received more patients from Florida as its patient numbers increased according to data. Florida residents encountered a strict six-week ban at the beginning of last May which became one of the nation’s most stringent abortion laws.
Several states have enacted laws that intend to limit the ability of people to seek abortion treatment in other states. The state legislatures of Tennessee and Idaho criminalized the support a minor can get to travel for abortion medical procedures without obtaining their parents’ consent, as reported by HealthDay.
The Alabama court declared that state authorities cannot prosecute entities that assist people leaving the state to get abortions. The judge declared interstate travel rights “one of our most fundamental constitutional rights.”