Health
The Affordable Care Act and the data: Who is insured and who isn't
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in June 2022, 13 states have near-total bans on abortion. Increased restrictions on abortion at the state level may lead to more people traveling outside of their home state for an abortion.
According to the most recent national abortion data, 64,919 pregnant people traveled outside of their home states for an abortion in 2020. That’s 10.6% of all abortions reported that year.[1]
Idaho passed a law explicitly restricting helping a pregnant minor get an abortion out-of-state, whether through a procedure or medication. Idaho has a near-total ban on abortions.
Three states — California, Maryland, and New Hampshire — don’t report data on their in-state abortions. Tennessee did not report where residents went to receive abortions. Forty-seven states, as well as Washington, DC, and New York City, provide abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Where are people traveling to get abortions?
Washington, DC, was the big destination for people seeking abortions. It had the highest rate of non-residents traveling for an abortion, at 70.7%, with most people traveling from Maryland or Virginia.
In 2020, more than 10,000 pregnant people traveled to Illinois for an abortion, that’s 20.9% of all abortions in the state. A majority of people came from Missouri (6,578); Indiana (1,878), and Wisconsin (531). Illinois borders states with restrictive laws on abortion access including Wisconsin, Missouri and Kentucky.
More than 6,400 out-of-state residents got abortions in Georgia in 2020, about 17.1% of all abortions in the state. Most of these people traveled from South Carolina (2,040), Tennessee (1,253), and Alabama (2,499).
Which states have the most people leaving for abortions?
A pregnant person might go out-of-state for an abortion if their home state’s law’s restrict access to the procedure. They may also travel because the nearest abortion clinic is in another state.
In 2020, Missouri had the highest rate of residents leaving to get abortions elsewhere. Only 1% of residents stayed in the state for the procedure in 2020, totaling 134 abortions that year. Another 9,846 abortions obtained by Missourians were outside the state. A near-total abortion ban in Missouri went into effect in June 2022, which included outlawing prescribing abortion medication through telemedicine or in-person.
Where does the data come from?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requests abortion data from the central health agencies for each state, the District of Columbia, and New York City. A total of 49 reporting areas voluntarily provided aggregate abortion data to CDC in 2020. Of these, 48 reporting areas provided data each year during from 2011 to 2020. California, Maryland, and New Hampshire did not submit abortion data.
Learn more about healthcare and abortion restrictions by state. Get the data directly in your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
Abortion Surveillance 2020
Last updated
- [1]
Tennessee did not report how many residents traveled out of state for abortions and were not included in the total abortions count to determine the percentage of out of state abortions. Tennessee accounted for 1.8% of national abortions.
