Abortion access protected in 20 states
As some states restricted abortion, others locked in access. Clinics moved across state lines, added staff and lengthened hours to accommodate women leaving their home states to end their pregnancies.
In 25 states, abortion remains generally legal up to at least 24 weeks of pregnancy. In 20 of those states, protections have been solidified through constitutional amendments or laws. Officials in many of those states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico and New York, have explicitly invited women from places where the procedure is banned.
Women have flocked to states with legal access.
CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health had for decades treated patients in Memphis, Tennessee, some seeking abortions. After Tennessee’s abortion ban kicked in last year, the clinic opened a second outpost that’s about a threehour drive away, in Carbondale, Illinois, a state that has positioned itself as an oasis for abortion access.
“I would say 80% or more of our patients continue to come from the communities that CHOICES has always taken care of,” said CEO Jennifer Pepper, who said the Illinois clinic sees on average 350 patients a month. “They’re coming from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and even Texas, but now they’re having to travel much farther.”
Kansas is one of the closest places to obtain abortions for people in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. A new clinic opened in Kansas City, Kansas, four days before Dobbs. Within weeks, the clinic was overwhelmed. Even after lengthening hours, hiring staff and flying in physicians, it’s been able to take only about 10% to 15% of people who have sought an abortion there.
Dr. Iman Alsaden, the Planned Parenthood medical director based in Kansas, said most patients in the Kansas clinics are now coming from elsewhere.
“You’re in a really, really dire public health situation when you are looking at someone who had to jump through endless amounts of hoops just to make this work and saying they’re so lucky they’re able to do this,” Alsaden said.
In anticipation of out-ofstate patients, states such as Hawaii have passed laws to allow more health care workers, such as nurse practitioners, to provide abortions. In New Jersey, officials late last year announced a grant to train more medical professionals to perform the procedures. that restrictions are too harsh, rather than on antiabortion groups to prove they are justified.
Many challenges rely on arguments about the rights to personal autonomy or religious freedom. A Texas lawsuit alleges women were denied abortions even when their lives were at risk.
Bans or restrictions are on hold in at least six states while judges sort out their long-term fate. The only states where a top court has permanently rejected restrictions since the Dobbs ruling are Iowa and South Carolina. In the latter, lawmakers later adopted a new ban, but enforcement is on hold due to a court challenge.
In Utah, lawmakers this year passed a first-in-thenation law banning abortion clinics. But a judge put enforcement of that on hold, too, while the court case plays out.