The Numbers After Two Years
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court handed down Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and erased the federal right to abortion. Two years later, 62.7 million women and girls live in states that ban the procedure. Fourteen states enforce total or near-total bans.
Seven more restrict abortion before most people know they are pregnant. The result is a patchwork system where your zip code determines whether you receive medical care or get turned away.
The total number of abortions nationally rose 21% from 2020 to 2025, reaching roughly 1.126 million. But that national figure hides what is happening on the ground in ban states, where patients face dangerous delays, forced travel, or no care at all.
Where Abortion Is Banned
| State | Ban Type | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| Arkansas | Total ban | Life, rape, incest |
| Idaho | Total ban (6 weeks) | Life, rape, incest (limited) |
| Indiana | Total ban | Life, rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly |
| Kentucky | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| Louisiana | Total ban | Life, rape, incest |
| Mississippi | Total ban | Life, rape |
| Missouri | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| North Dakota | Total ban | Life, rape, incest |
| Oklahoma | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| South Dakota | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| Tennessee | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| Texas | Total ban | Life of patient only |
| West Virginia | Near-total (some exceptions) | Life, fatal anomaly, rape/incest to 14 weeks |
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights, Guttmacher Institute, updated through 2025.
Patients Are Crossing State Lines
In 2024, 155,000 people traveled out of state for abortion care. That is nearly double the 81,000 who traveled in 2020 before Dobbs. Illinois took in 35,000 out-of-state patients. Kansas served 16,100, with 71% of its abortion patients coming from other states.
By 2025, travel dropped slightly to 142,000 patients as telehealth expanded. Virtual clinics now account for 24% of all clinician-provided abortions in the United States, up from 12% in 2023. Approximately 91,000 patients in ban states accessed care through telehealth shield laws in 2025.
Mothers Are Dying
The maternal mortality data is damning. In Texas, maternal deaths rose 56% in the first full year of its post-six-week ban. That number rose 95% among White women. Meanwhile, states without bans saw maternal mortality decrease by 21% over the same period.
Black women bear the worst of it. In ban states, Black maternal mortality hit 60.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, meaning Black mothers are 3.3 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than White mothers in the same states. Researchers estimate 68 excess maternal deaths occurred by the end of 2023 that would not have happened without the bans.
“States that passed abortion bans are doing little to find out whether women are dying because of those bans. Most have not convened their maternal mortality review committees since the laws took effect.”
— ProPublica investigation, 2024
The Workforce Is Collapsing
Doctors are leaving. Idaho lost 35% of its OB-GYNs in 28 months. Residency applications in ban states dropped 10.5% compared to 5.3% in non-ban states. The pipeline of new doctors is drying up in exactly the places where maternal care is already disappearing.
What You Can Do
- Contact your state legislators. Tell them the bans are killing people and driving out doctors. Use Resist Bot to send a letter in under two minutes.
- Support abortion funds. The National Network of Abortion Funds helps patients pay for travel and procedures in states where care is still legal.
- Back ballot initiatives. Seven states have already passed constitutional protections for abortion since Dobbs. Idaho and other states have measures pending for 2026. Donate or collect signatures.
- Show up for state elections. The legislators who passed these bans face voters in 2026. State races decide whether bans stay or go.
- Talk about it. The bans depend on silence. Share the data, name the consequences, and make it impossible to look away.
Read more: Reproductive Rights Under Attack | IVF Under Threat | Idaho OB-GYN Exodus | Title X Family Planning
Sources
- Guttmacher Institute: Full-Year Estimates of Abortion Incidence and Telehealth Growth
- GEPI: Maternal Mortality Rising in States With Abortion Bans
- Center for Reproductive Rights: Abortion Laws by State Map
- Guttmacher Institute: State Abortion Policy Tracker
- Johns Hopkins: Higher Maternal Death Rate in States With Abortion Bans
- ProPublica: States With Abortion Bans Not Reviewing Whether Women Are Dying