The number of Texas women who sought abortions in surrounding states rose 800% after the state’s draconian abortion ban went into effect, Axios reports.
Planned Parenthood health centers reported a nearly 800% increase in the number of Texas patients seeking out-of-state abortions between the beginning of September and the end of December.
Oklahoma saw a 2,500% increase in Texas patients compared to previous years. Texans made up more than 50% of abortions in the state at the end of the year compared to less than 10% the previous year.
Colorado saw more than a 1,000% increase in Texas patients.
Louisiana saw a 347% increase. New Mexico saw a 100% increase.
Texas patients now majority in certain states:
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, said Planned Parenthood centers in the area saw more than 1,100 Texas patients between September and December, compared to only 50 Texas patients during the same time period the previous year.
Since the start of this year, "Oklahoma clinics continue to see more patients from Texas than are from Oklahoma."
But not every woman can afford to go out of state:
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, stressed that while the Texas ban has forced many women to “travel extraordinary distances to access constitutionally protected abortion care,” that only includes women who are “able to do so.”
"Those who can’t find the money or get time off work, secure child care, lodging, transportation, and other resources necessary to cross state lines are forced to carry pregnancies against their will or seek abortion outside of the health care system," she said. "This reality is heartbreaking and a glimpse of what’s to come should the Supreme Court restrict the constitutional right to an abortion even further.”
