Study: Thousands of Tennesseans travel out of state for abortions amid restrictive laws

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A new study reveals that more than 10,000 Tennesseans left the state to get an abortion last year.

Friday we spoke with a local organization about how current laws restricting abortions are affecting many women.

Rachel Fay, the VP of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at Power to Decide, says…

“That chaos, that confusion, is part of what hinders people’s access to the care they need.”

According to a study from Guttmacher Institute, in 2023, Illinois was the state most Tennesseans traveled to in order to get an abortion.

Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at Guttmacher Institute, says…

“Illinois has become really a point of access for a lot of people in the Midwest, South, and Southeast. It’s one of the places where many people can travel to. Illinois has also made a lot of efforts to make care accessible in this state.”

Tennessee Right for Life slammed the study in a statement, saying…

“The Guttmacher Institute is the research arm of Planned Parenthood. All states do not have reporting requirements for abortion procedures and patient demographics.”

They say Tennessee continues to strive as an example for other states, so that they too will protect and respect the precious gift of life for all of their citizens.

Tennessee Right for Life claims that CDC data shows Tennessee is one of only two states with an increased birth rate since the Dobbs Decision, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion.

But Nicolas Kabat, staff attorney for Center for Reproductive Rights, says…

“Laws like Tennessee’s are going to harm pregnant Tennesseans.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights is fighting Tennessee on abortion laws.

Kabat says a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a number of Tennessee women who are struggling with pregnancies for medical reasons.

“They were all suffering some type of dangerous medical complication in their pregnancy, and continuing the pregnancy continued to make things worse, but the Tennessee law was a barrier to them getting care in Tennessee, and so some of them ended up going out of state to get the abortions,” Kabat says.

Tennessee Right for Life says that “in 2023, there were no abortions done in Tennessee except to save the life of the mother.”

“In 2023, more than 170,000 women traveled out of state to get abortion care,” Fay says.

The Power to Decide non-profit organization helps improve reproductive well-being.

“Generally, we’ve seen an increase in the percentage of abortions that are medication abortions in 2023. That was 63%,” Fay says.

They say there are options for those in need of abortion care.

“”Go to abortion finder. You enter where you are in your pregnancy based on when you had your last period. And abortion finder can find you what clinics are able to provide care to you around the country.”

Visit abortion finder here.