Earlier this month, Indiana became the 15th state to nearly totally ban abortions after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2022. In the ripple effects of the court case, laws restricting abortion access were proposed and are still being contended in states like Texas, Iowa and Utah.
As abortion access dwindles in certain states, people are traveling more than 1,000 miles to seek care in states without restrictive abortion policies. According to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, the number of out-of-state residents seeking abortions in Massachusetts, for example, rose 37% in the four months after the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Some patients traveled from as far away as Texas.
