COLUMBUS, Ohio — Strict abortion bans in neighboring states have caused an influx of people traveling to Ohio for the medical procedure.
Ohio voters approved an amendment in 2023 enshrining abortion rights into its constitution. The Guttmacher Institute has since found thousands of patients have traveled to the Buckeye State to seek abortion care.
According to The Guttmacher Institute, 3,100 patients traveled to Ohio in 2023 for abortion procedures. Many of them stemmed from Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, all of which have abortion bans in place.
It follows a trend researchers said they have been tracking. They said nationally, the number of people who crossed state lines in the first half of 2023 more than doubled that of the same time period in 2020. More than 90,000 people went out of their home state for an abortion in the first six months of last year.
Catherine Romanos said people who are traveling for abortion care need to be careful.
“The longer you delay an abortion, it gets incrementally more dangerous,” Romanos said. “Even though it’s a really safe procedure, it’s always safer to do the abortion earlier in the pregnancy. If you have to delay because you can’t make travel plans, you (can't) afford to travel, that can be a risk to patients.”
Ohio still has many laws on the books, including a 24-hour waiting period to seek an abortion from a provider and getting a parent’s consent depending on if a person is a minor.
“We still have a mandatory ultrasound requirement,” Romanos said. “I’m a little limited to whom and how I can provide medication abortion.”
The Guttmacher Institute found more than 1 million clinics that provided abortions were performed in states that didn’t have a total ban in 2023.
“That is an astonishing number of people,” said Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward. “I imagine if that number was for people who had to travel for a heart procedure or for something to do with their kidney, that would be labeled a health care crisis. And this is a health care crisis.”
However, Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said the numbers of this study might not be accurate.
“I call into question the veracity of that report,” Gonidakis said. “The reason why I do that is not because I don’t like the numbers.”
Gonidakis said the Ohio Department of Health produces their own abortion report every October. In that report, the state compares and contrasts age, demographics, ZIP codes and marital status for patients seeking abortion. But those numbers have not yet been released
“I think these national media reports are based on speculation and word of mouth as opposed to hard facts,” Gonidakis said. “I would hope that as a society, we can identify ways to help women have their children and raise them. We’re placed for adoption.”
Copeland said when people vote this November, abortion will still be on everyone’s mind, whether it's voting for people running its state Supreme Court or electing people on the federal level that would stop a federal abortion ban.
Ohio is still waiting for a judge to issue a ruling on challenges to Ohio’s Heartbeat Act. The law would make it illegal for a health care provider to perform an abortion if the fetus has a heartbeat. The constitutionality of the law is being challenged in court. A decision could be made next month.