Thousands of people traveled out of state to get abortions after Dobbs

The Supreme Court’s June 2022 reversal of long-standing national abortion protections under Roe v. Wade triggered a series of state bans, leaving many people seeking abortions to grapple with the decision of traveling out of state for the procedure. Despite the costs and risks involved with such travel, many have done so.

New data from the Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount report found that total US clinician-provided abortions fell by nearly 26,000 in the nine months following the court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

States where abortion remains legal saw some increases—even though those gains were not as high as expected in places like the Northeast and the West Coast, which are generally seen as abortion safe havens.

But due to their proximity to ban states, some of the states that saw the largest increases in the total number of clinician-provided abortions from July 2022 to March 2023 have taken steps to pull back abortion access, the report found. For example, Florida saw 12,460 more abortions during that period, while North Carolina had a 7,930 case increase. California, by contrast, saw 4,260 more clinician-provided abortions in the nine months after the Dobbs decision.

The increase in abortions in the southeastern region is likely because states like Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina are easier “access points” for the procedure for people from nearby ban states—“even if those receiving states had abortion restrictions such as mandated in-person counseling and waiting periods,” the report noted.

But that trend could soon change: North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban will take effect on July 1. Efforts to restrict abortion access in Florida and South Carolina, meanwhile, have been held up in court.

Not just distance

Andrea Miller, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, told Healthcare Brew that while geographic proximity can influence where abortion seekers decide to travel for the procedure, it’s not the only factor.

“For a lot of people, what we’re hearing is [they’re going] wherever they can get an appointment,” she said. “They have an adjacent state [with abortion access], but if they can’t get an appointment there for six weeks, they’re going to keep trying—they’re going to keep going farther and farther out.”

Sarah Moeller, senior director of external relations for the Brigid Alliance—which helps people who are 15+ weeks pregnant cover abortion-related travel costs—said the referral-based nonprofit has assisted abortion seekers in all 50 states.

Most of the Brigid Alliance’s clients hail from the South—with more coming from Texas, Florida, and Georgia in the last year, Moeller said. But it has also helped people in states where abortion is legal since patients can still face transportation barriers, difficulty in booking appointments, or potential judgment from family and friends.

Changes to state abortion laws have also affected ob-gyn access, making it hard for many pregnant people to get sonograms or accurately date their pregnancies, Moeller said. That means some patients may have to attend multiple appointments, travel farther from home, or undergo the abortion procedure later in gestation.

“The complexity of the cases that we are working with is increasing,” she said.

Since the Dobbs decision, the Brigid Alliance has helped more than 1,300 abortion seekers. Clients travel about 1,300 miles on average—up 30% from a year ago—and typically receive about $1,400 per itinerary to help cover travel-related expenses, which can include transportation, accommodations, meals and even childcare.

About two-thirds of people who seek help from the Brigid Alliance self-identify as BIPOC, or Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and about a third are already parents, Moeller added. The clients range in age from 10- to 53-years-old.

The nonprofit covers a client’s transportation, lodging, childcare, meals, and other support. It doesn’t pay for abortions, which Moeller noted can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in later stages of pregnancy. However, the Brigid Alliance connects clients with abortion funds to mitigate those costs.

“The Brigid Alliance exists to bridge the ever-widening gap between a person and their abortion provider. Wherever one of our clients needs to go, we will find a way to get them there and back home safely, and with dignity,” she said.