NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A new study by the Guttmacher Institute, an educational organization focused on reproductive rights, highlights the increased number of women traveling to other states to have an abortion.
According to the data, more than 10,500 Tennessee women traveled to six other states for the procedure in 2023. Most Tennesseans who left the state for an abortion in 2023 received care in Illinois, the study found, but some traveled to California. The remaining women went to Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, according to the data.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in 2022, Tennessee’s abortion ban went into effect. Currently, the law does not include exceptions for rape or incest, but a change in the law, passed in 2023, allowed doctors to perform the procedure in limited medical emergencies where the mother’s life is at risk.
171,300 patients traveled out of state for abortions in 2023
Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, told News 2 before the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe V. Wade, about a quarter of Tennessee women who had abortions traveled out of state for the procedure. . However, after 2022, the rate at which women fled the Voluntary State to access abortion skyrocketed.
“Not only has there been a huge increase in travel, but people are also having to travel much longer distances because in many states, all the surrounding states also have bans,” Maddow-Zimlet said. “People often have to cross multiple state lines to access abortion care.”
Fourteen US states have near-bans on abortion, including Tennessee. Despite that, the number of abortions performed by medical professionals increased 11% from 2020 to 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the highest number and rate measured in the United States in more than a decade. Maddow-Zimlet said there is a possible explanation for the increase in abortions performed.
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“States without bans are increasing access to people traveling out of state and are also increasing access to residents of their own states,” Maddow-Zimlet said. “State policies, as well as increased funding for abortion, logistical support from practical support organizations, availability of things like telehealth abortion, have potentially increased access quite substantially for people who don’t travel also”.
According to Maddow-Zimlet, the trip involves a high cost, not only from a financial point of view, but also from a logistical point of view. Women are often only able to travel out of state for an abortion when they have certain supports in place, including those provided through abortion funds, practical support organizations, and the clinics themselves.
“One thing I think we’re concerned about in the long term is whether that support will be sustainable,” Maddow-Zimlet said. “It’s really something that came about to meet an urgent need and it’s not necessarily a stable long-term infrastructure.”
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A Tennessee law taking effect July 1 will make it illegal for an adult in Tennessee to help a minor cross state lines to receive an abortion.
To read the full Guttmacher Institute study, click here.
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