Published today in JAMA Network Open, "Telehealth Provision and Travel For Abortion Care in States With Total Bans, 2023–2025," analyzes how people in states with total abortion bans access care. Specifically, the study seeks to understand how the introduction of shield laws starting in July 2023, which protect clinicians who provide abortion care via telehealth to patients in all states, including those with total abortion bans, may have impacted out-of-state travel for abortion care. 

The study uses data from Guttmacher's Monthly Abortion Provision Study to compare changes in the number of abortion seekers in 13 total-ban states who traveled out of state for care versus those that obtained medication abortion via telehealth from a shield law provider. 

Key Findings

• In 2023, the number of residents of total-ban states who traveled out of state to access abortion care (89,620) was more than three times higher than the number who accessed care via telehealth (24,460). 

• By 2025, the majority of residents in total-ban states obtained their abortion via telehealth: 90,460, compared to 64,590 who traveled out-of-state for care.  

“The data are clear: the implementation of shield law provision has had a major impact on how and where people access abortion care in restrictive policy environments,” says Rachel K. Jones, Guttmacher principal research scientist and study co-author. “While travel remains a critically important avenue for care, especially for people at later gestational durations or with a preference for in-person care, the ability to receive abortion pills in the mail has improved access for tens of thousands of people living in states with total abortion bans.”  

You can read the full article here.

To speak with one of the study authors or to learn more about Guttmacher’s abortion research, email [email protected].