A large number of states have reported data corroborating observers’ expectations that pro-life laws, precipitated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, would increase the number of women crossing state lines to obtain abortions.
The changing landscape of abortion access prompted the New York Times to proclaim last week “A Year of Upheaval on Abortion’s Front Lines.” While abortions appear to have decreased significantly, pro-life lawmakers are wrestling with the fact that their residents can travel across state lines to end their preborn children’s lives.
Texas
Recent reporting has tended to note increases among travelers from Texas, one of the nation’s most populous states which also strong laws protecting preborn children from abortion. That included a heartbeat law enacted in 2021, and a near-total ban implemented after Dobbs.
According to multiple outlets, Texans sought abortions in Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Overall, the state saw a 66% drop in abortions between 2021 and 2022, and saw just 85 reported abortions in the last six months of 2022. And although many Texas women sought abortions in other states, a recent study from Johns Hopkins indicates the state’s heartbeat law saved nearly 10,000 lives.
Texans also reportedly made up a greater proportion of the patients seen by CARE Colorado, a Pueblo clinic owned by the late abortionist Leroy Carhart. The Texas Standard reported that while Texans accounted for 47% of their patients, only 31% came from Colorado. Groups like the Lilith Fund and Jane’s Due Process are helping women make the long trips to the clinic, the outlet reported.
A decrease in funding, but an increase in abortion
It’s unclear how much Dobbs has affected these groups’ activities. The Associated Press (AP) reported last month that so-called “rage-giving” since Dobbs had declined. According to the New York Times, the Alabama-based group Yellowhammer was funding 100 to 200 abortions per week prior to Dobbs, but calls fell to just three to five per week after the Supreme Court’s decision.
Yet abortion providers and government agencies in particular states have reported seeing massive increases in both abortions and contact about them. Kansas, which rejected a pro-life amendment in 2022, saw 12,318 abortions last year, according to the state’s department of health and environment. That was the highest number since 1999, when the state reportedly recorded 12,445 abortions. It seemed to be a hotspot for out-of-state travelers, as many southern states restricted abortion. Besides large increases from Texas, the state also saw a 1,379% increase in travelers from Oklahoma, and 1,206 increase from Arkansas, according to KXAN.
Abortion havens
Nevada, whose neighboring states saw significant pro-life laws, also saw increases in out-of-state abortion seekers, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the paper, Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada Executive Director Lindsay Harmon said the organization’s facilities in Las Vegas saw a 37% increase in out-of-state patients since June 2022. She claimed that the city saw more than 1,200 patients come from out of the state.
Washington and California also saw increases in out-of-state abortions, as both Utah and Idaho clamped down on the practice. According to MyNorthwest, Washington state saw a 36% increase in the number of out-state abortions in 2023. The outlet also reported that Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho saw a 56% increase in the number of patients traveling from Idaho this year.
Abortion is nearly banned in the state, which recently enacted a highly controversial anti-trafficking bill punishing individuals who attempt to help a minor obtain an abortion without parental consent.
Surge states
Reporting has revealed data from abortion facilities and state health reports in the year following Dobbs, and some states in particular have stood out among the rest. The pro-abortion Society of Family Planning has been tracking abortions across the country and noted in June that several “surge states” emerged with increases in the procedure. Those included Florida, Illinois, California, Colorado, and North Carolina.
North Carolina, which The Cut described as a “critical access hub after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade,” reported 7,930 additional abortions nine months after Dobbs.
California, meanwhile, saw 451 out-of-state patients in Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties since the Dobbs decision. That represented more than double the 180 the OC Register reported they saw in the prior year. The abortion provider reportedly said that patients came from 32 states, including from as far away as Florida. Most, however, reportedly came from Texas and Arizona, with surges in neighboring Nevada and Colorado allegedly prompting patients to seek services further west.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) similarly saw abortion patients coming from faraway states like Florida, as well as a 12.5% increase in the number of out-of-state abortion seekers. According to the Burlington Free Press, the top 10 states with out-of-state patients coming to PPNNE facilities were Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Arkansas, and even California. The circumstances surrounding those requests are unclear, and somewhat suspect, given California’s relatively liberal abortion laws.
Mixed results in the north
Not everywhere in the northeast reported a surge in out-of-state abortion seekers. PPNNE reportedly declined giving state specific data for its affiliates, which are located in Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. State data from Vermont, however, revealed a decrease in out-of-state residents seeking abortions.
On July 8, the VTDigger reported:
“As of this week, the department reports that from June 24, 2022 — the day of the Dobbs decision — through early June 2023, a total of 925 abortions were completed in Vermont. Of those, 154 were performed on non-Vermont residents — roughly 17%. (Due to reporting lag time, the department was unable to provide data from the latter portion of June 2023.)
By comparison, in all of 2021, 215 out-of-state patients obtained abortions in Vermont, representing nearly 21% of the 1,033 abortions completed in the state that year.”
The story was different in Connecticut, where Planned Parenthood reportedly saw a 56% increase in out-of-state abortion seekers.
Varied results in the midwest
The midwest similarly saw mixed results, with Planned Parenthood reporting a tripling of abortions in Michigan from out-of-state individuals in the year since Dobbs. By June of this year, Michigan radio reported that Planned Parenthood of Michigan abortions came from an average of 15-20% of out-of-state individuals per week. According to MLive, the state saw a 66% increase in out-of-state women since Dobbs. The number of abortions increased in Indiana due to out-of-state seekers in 2022 amid restrictions in Ohio and Kentucky, according to the AP. Abortions dropped, however, after the state’s restrictions took effect later in 2022.
The state reportedly saw abortion seekers from Kentucky (950 abortions), Ohio (611), Tennessee (102), Michigan (56), Illinois (50), and other states (58). As Live Action News previously reported, the South Bend Whole Women’s Health clinic said in June that it was closing with the next closest abortion clinic 100 miles away in Chicago.
The ability of abortion seekers to cross state lines has raised legal and political questions for the pro-life movement. Roughly a year after Dobbs, Live Action CEO Lila Rose joined a long list of other pro-lifers in calling for the movement to follow its north star by enforcing equal protection as outlined in the 14th Amendment.
Besides allowing the procedure, pro-abortion administrations have taken steps to protect individuals from prosecution by other states. Last month, 19 Republican attorneys general attempted to address the problem by sending a letter objecting to the Biden administration’s proposed rule on limiting the sharing of medical records related to abortions obtained across state lines.
