Report: Abortion may be illegal in Texas, but plenty of women are still getting them out of state

This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade — a decision that allowed Texas to ban almost all abortions.

Despite the prohibitions adopted by the Republican-controlled Lone Star State, its residents are still getting abortions in high numbers, according to a new Texas Public Radio report. The difference is that they’re now traveling out of state to do it.

States neighboring Texas where abortion remains legal — specifically Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico — have seen a significant increase in Texas women arriving to seek abortion services, according to TPR.

A recent study published by the Society of Family Planning shows that clinics in Colorado had preformed about 4,500 more abortions than during the year prior, according to TPR. New Mexico had about 2,290 more, while Kansas saw an increase of 3,320 more procedures.

Experts told TPR the bulk of these new patients are traveling from Texas.

Since opening in December 2022, 47% of patients at CARE Colorado, an abortion clinic in Pueblo, were from Texas, according to TPR. Only 31% of the patients seeking abortion-related care at the clinic were from Colorado.

The story is similar in Kansas, where about half of all patients at Planned Parenthood clinics in the state hail from Texas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Emily Wales told the news organization.

“When one provider in one part of the country is unable to offer services or is affected, that echoes throughout the region because there are just far too few providers,” Wales explained.

Although conservatives rejoiced at the high court’s Dobbs decision, public opinion polls suggest it’s unpopular. Some 61% of Americans said  abortion should be legal in most, if not all, cases, according to a June poll by the Pew Research Center.

While many women are able to make trips out of state for care and some access financial help from abortion funds, advocates told TPR that logistical hurdles such as getting time off work and arranging child care still prevent some from traveling.

Even though abortion care is outlawed in Texas, Planned Parenthood clinics still provide women’s health services in large swaths of the state, including in San Antonio, where a new privately funded clinic opened on the city’s West Side in March. The clinics offer reproductive health care, including cancer screenings, STD screening and birth control.

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This article appears in Jun 14-27, 2023.