Apr 17, 2025
The number of abortions provided in most of the U.S. increased slightly in 2024 from the year before, according to new data released on April 15.
The research was conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, which studies and supports sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organization uses both a statistical model and survey responses from providers to estimate the number of abortions provided by clinicians in states without near-total bans for its Monthly Abortion Provision Study. The data released on April 15 show that nearly 1,038,100 abortions were provided in 2024 across all states without near-total bans—a less than 1% increase from 2023 to 2024.
While that number is relatively steady compared to the year before, researchers noted that the finding “masked substantial variability across individual states,” with some states experiencing significant decreases and others seeing notable increases. For instance, there were roughly 12,100 fewer abortions provided in Florida in 2024 than in 2023, which researchers attributed to the state implementing a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a policy that went into effect in May 2024. Similarly, South Carolina provided about 3,500 fewer abortions in 2024 than in 2023. Researchers attributed this to the state’s six-week ban, which was upheld by the state Supreme Court in August 2023.
At the same time, researchers found that the number of abortions provided in Wisconsin increased from about 1,300 in 2023 to about 6,100 in 2024—an increase of 388%. Abortion access in the state became largely unavailable after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 until late 2023, when a Wisconsin judge ruled that an 1849 law that had been interpreted as a ban didn’t make abortion illegal. Arizona, California, Kansas, Ohio, and Virginia also saw significant increases in the number of abortions provided in 2024 compared to the year before.
“What happens in one state affects what happens in other states,” says Isaac Maddow-Zimet, data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute and the project lead for the Monthly Abortion Provision Study. He notes that while Florida saw a sharp decline in the number of abortions provided between 2023 and 2024, Virginia, which allows abortions until about 26 weeks of pregnancy, saw a significant increase. In part, he says, that’s because people in Florida “were traveling to Virginia to access care.”
The data also reveal that about 155,100 people traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024, accounting for about 15% of all abortions provided in states without near-total bans. That’s a slight decrease from 2023, when roughly 169,700 people crossed state lines, representing about 16% of abortions in states without near-total bans. Still, the number of people who traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024 is nearly double the number who did so in 2020, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, according to Maddow-Zimet. READ MORE
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SOURCE: Time