New Data Show Nearly One in Five US Abortion Patients Are Traveling Out of State for Care – December 2023 update – The Guttmacher Institute has released new data from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study, which tracks monthly estimates of procedural and medication abortions provided in the formal US health care system. In addition to monthly estimates of the number of facility-based abortions provided in each state from January through September 2023, this release includes the first comprehensive data measuring the magnitude of interstate travel for abortion after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022

Care Post-Roe: Documenting cases of poor-quality care since the Dobbs decision “…The post-Dobbs laws and their interpretations altered the standard of care across these scenarios in ways that contributed to delays, worsened health outcomes, and increased the cost and logistic complexity of care. In several cases, patients experienced preventable complications, such as severe infection or having the placenta grow deep
into the uterine wall and surrounding structures, because clinicians reported their “hands were tied,” making it impossible for them to provide treatment sooner. One physician described a case of a patient who had ruptured membranes at 16-18 weeks’ gestation but was denied an abortion because of a new state law. She was sent home and developed a severe infection requiring management in the intensive care unit. The patient subsequently delivered her fetus but required a procedure to remove her placenta. The physician wrote, “The anesthesiologist cries on the phone when discussing the case with me—if the patient needs to be intubated, no one thinks she will make it out of the OR.” Health care providers described feeling moral distress when they were unable to provide evidence- based care, and some reported considering moving their practices to a state where abortion remains legal…”