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Even before last month's Supreme Court decision overturning 

, a growing number of people were traveling across state lines for abortions.

Nearly one in 10 abortions in 2020 were provided to patients who'd crossed state lines, according to a 

 by the Guttmacher Institute. That's up from six percent in 2011. As the report notes, the increase occurred as a growing number of states were passing abortion restrictions.

Interstate travel for abortion is expected to continue to increase as more states enact abortion bans in response to the 

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

"These are a baseline for the changes that we expect to see and already are seeing as much more restrictions are occurring in the wake of 

," said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, who co-authored the report for Guttmacher, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Maddow-Zimet notes that the report looks at data from both before 

 and before the implementation of SB 8, an 

Already, clinics in states like Colorado and Illinois, which have less restrictive laws, have been reporting an 

influx of patients from neighboring states

abortions were provided but also where patients were 

It found that abortion restrictions did not necessarily translate to fewer abortions. In Missouri, for example, the number of abortions provided there dropped significantly between 2017 and 2020. During the same period, the abortion rate for residents increased by 18 percent when out-of-state abortions were taken into account.

"We're going to see more and more of those kinds of situations, as more and more states put bans in place, where most residents are going to have to travel out of state for care," Maddow-Zimet said.

Guttmacher examined data from sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health departments and its own survey of abortion providers. The report did not capture self-induced abortions, which many experts predict will become 

, particularly for people in states with abortion bans.  

Sarah McCammon

Author

A report from the Guttmacher Institute finds that state abortion restrictions do not necessarily correlate to a lower abortion rate, as more patients travel out of state.

People hold signs and yell during a rally outside.

Even before the Dobbs ruling, more Americans were traveling for abortions

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