An analysis of driving times to abortion clinics in the United States

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Urban areas in the United States with no accessible abortion clinics within a [X] hours round-trip drive

Round-trip time to the nearest clinic at [X] weeks pregnant

Some facts:

• 89% of abortions occur when the patient is less than 12 weeks pregnant
• Out of the 41 clinics open in Texas at the time, only five fully met the new requirements. As the number of operating clinics in Texas was cut in half, the issue was brought to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It was argued that when nearby clinics close, pregnant patients experience an “undue burden” to travel upward of 150 miles to the nearest clinic. This drive would take about 5 hours round trip, and it could have impacted the nearly 275,000 women of reproductive age living in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
• Residents of big metropolitan cities, such as New York, Miami, and Seattle, will have access to nearby abortion services regardless of how many weeks pregnant they are. But people living in cities such as El Paso, Texas, or Springfield, Missouri, have less access, particularly when they are further along in their pregnancy.
• Many travelers from these cities drive long distances to their nearest clinic to be met with waiting periods and other state-imposed regulations, which increase the length of their trip. For instance, residents of Meridian, Idaho, who are 20 weeks pregnant would need to make a 10-hour round-trip journey to Utah for services.
• In the first half of 2017, six states proposed TRAP laws to ban abortion entirely, and 28 states have proposed laws to ban abortion under some circumstances. Clinics in these 34 states are potentially in danger of drastic closures, mirroring what has happened in Texas.

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