Out-of-state abortions in Massachusetts double, but remain low
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Tens of thousands of patients traveled out-of-state for abortions last year, with just a few heading to Massachusetts, new data estimates from the Guttmacher Institute show.
The big picture: The Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has driven patients to states without total abortion bans, such as Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico and Massachusetts.
- But the Bay State, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy with certain exceptions, has seen just a fraction of the patients others have.
State of play: Out-of-state patients doubled in Massachusetts from 600 in 2020 to 1,190 in 2023.
- They made up 6% of all abortions in 2023.
Yes, but: That's roughly one-tenth the number of out-of-state patients New York has received.
- Illinois, which borders states with total abortion bans such as Indiana and Missouri, saw more than 37,000 out-of-state abortion patients, or 41% of all abortion patients.
Between the lines: It's not surprising that Massachusetts wouldn't see as big an increase as Illinois or other states neighboring banned states, but the data also doesn't take into account telehealth abortion cases.
- Rebecca Hart Holder, president of the Reproductive Equity Now coalition, says providers tell her group they're sending thousands of pills out of state.
- The pills tend to go to patients who may not be able to afford to travel or who prefer to undergo treatment at home, Hart Holder says.
Zoom in: Massachusetts has seen a handful of patients from across the country, but the majority of them come from Rhode Island, New Hampshire or Texas.
- While Rhode Island and New Hampshire have fewer abortion protections, it's unclear whether those patients are seeking care in Massachusetts because it's close by or because of the restrictions in their states.
The latest: Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order last week reaffirming that emergency abortion care is protected under state law, as the nation awaited a Supreme Court decision on an Idaho emergency abortion case.
- The court dismissed the case, allowing abortions to continue in Idaho emergency rooms to save a pregnant person's life.
Zoom out: Some 171,300 patients traveled out-of-state for abortions last year, per the Guttmacher estimates.
- More than one million clinician-provided abortions took place in states without a total ban in 2023 — the first full year after Roe v. Wade was overturned. That's the highest number in more than a decade.
- Out-of-state travel for abortions, including for the procedure or to obtain abortion pills, more than doubled nationally from 2020 to 2023.