More than 170K people traveled out of state for abortions in 2023: Report

More than 171,000 people traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2023, according to the New York Times, with thousands traveling from southern states like Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina.

The numbers for out-of-state travelers that sought abortions doubled in 2023, compared to 2019, according to a study from the Guttmacher Institute. The number of state lines that people had to cross also increased since 2020, because abortion has been outlawed in more states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022. Before the court overturned the ruling, more than 800 Louisiana residents traveled to Texas in 2020 for abortion care.

The report found that over 14,000 Texas patients crossed into New Mexico for an abortion last year, nearly 12,000 traveled to North Carolina from South Carolina and Georgia, and 16,000 traveled from various southern states to Illinois.

The influx of travelers in states like New Mexico and Illinois, made it difficult for some pregnant women to book an abortion appointment, forcing them to go out of state as well, the New York Times reported. 

“Abortion is one of the most common procedures in medicine,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, the founder of Whole Woman’s Health, told the outlet. “We’re having people travel hundreds or thousands of miles for a procedure that typically takes less than 10 minutes and can be done in a doctor’s office setting ... Nobody does that for any other medical procedure.”

The survey included both people looking for the abortion procedure and those seeking the abortion medication mifepristone instead. The abortion pill is currently banned in 14 states.

Illinois saw the biggest increase in people seeking abortions, and Texas saw the largest amount of residents leave its state for the procedure. Medical abortion is also banned in Texas.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.