Indiana's Terminated Pregnancy Report shows how changes in access affected abortion numbers

The number of out-of-state patients who traveled to Indiana for abortions more than tripled in 2022.

That's one finding in the Indiana Department of Health's newly released annual Terminated Pregnancy Report, which captured data on the state’s abortion landscape during a year that saw Roe v. Wade overturned and several neighboring states increase restrictions on abortion.

In 2022, the total number of abortions performed in Indiana rose 13.3% from the previous year, to 9,529 procedures, although it has dropped off in the first three months of 2023. The number of pregnancies terminated varied from month to month as court decisions and legislative action here and in neighboring states have changed what's legal where.

Indiana Supreme Court: Lawmakers can ban abortion except to protect mother's health

After the U.S. Supreme Court released its Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022, Indiana abortion providers said the state became a refuge for people from Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee seeking abortions. While Indiana was the first state to pass a near-total abortion ban post-Dobbs, courts issued temporary injunctions that have so far prevented it from taking effect here.

“We've become a critical access point for our region, sometimes taking on record numbers of patients to help as many people as possible access abortion care,” said Rebecca Gibron, CEO of the regional Planned Parenthood organization that includes Indiana.

According to the state Department of Health, out-of-state patients accounted for 19.2% of the total abortions performed in Indiana in 2022. That's an overwhelming increase from previous years. In 2021, the proportion was 5.5%, and 4.9% of patients were nonresidents in 2020.

But after the Indiana Supreme Court issued a ruling last month upholding the near-total abortion ban in one of two legal challenges, local abortion advocates say the state's position as an abortion resource is certain to shift.

Jessica Marchbank is the state programs director for All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center in Bloomington, where part of her role is to manage the nonprofit's abortion fund – a donation pool used to help clients pay for abortion care. She said that in the last year, about 10% of clients the fund worked with each week were from Kentucky.

That's reflected in the state terminated pregnancy report, which showed Kentucky residents accounted for 950 of the 9,529 total abortions performed in the state last year.

Marchbank said the state Supreme Court's ruling won’t just hit Hoosiers hard, but Kentucky residents as well.

“One of their access points is about to be cut off,” she said “People in Kentucky now (who want abortions), some will go to Illinois, some will go to Virginia, some may not be able to leave the state at all. And that's a pretty haunting thought.”

Indiana Right to Life and Right to Life Indianapolis did not respond to requests for comment.

Ohio is No. 2 for patients traveling to Indiana

Indiana also treated 611 abortion patients from Ohio last year. The Dobbs decision allowed a 2019 Ohio law banning abortion after six weeks to go into effect in late June 2022. It was halted by a county court in September, and eventually placed on hold until the law could be clarified.

One of those patients who traveled from Ohio while its ban was in effect was the unnamed 10-year-old rape survivor who made national headlines after IndyStar wrote about her.

Tennesseans accounted for 102 of Indiana's 2022 abortion patients.

Going forward, many Indiana residents who want abortions but don't qualify under state law may have to go to a different state for procedures, Marchbank said. That means spending money on travel as well as potentially taking time off work or arranging child care.

“We have spent the last year really working on relationships with other funds,” Marchbank said. “And also establishing relationships with so many more clinics in a bunch of other states, mostly Illinois and Michigan, and a sprinkling of other states that we think Hoosiers might need to go to (for abortions).”

Abortions down in Indiana in early 2023

The Department of Health also has released data on the number of terminated pregnancies reported in the first three months of 2023.

From January through March, 1,927 abortions were performed in the state, the lowest number recorded in that period since 2014, when the Health Department last modified its report analysis methods. For comparison, in the first three months of 2022, there were 2,286 abortions. In 2021, there were 2,251, and in 2020 there were 2,049.

One possible reason for this decline could be the closing of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, a South Bend clinic that stopped providing abortions in December and closed its doors officially last month.

The clinic's founder Amy Hagstrom Miller cited political reasons for the clinic’s closing. As abortion legislation shifts from state to state, it has become harder to maintain clinics in places where the law is in limbo – like Indiana.

Hagstrom Miller said the ever-changing, uncertain status of state abortion laws felt like a burden to patients and providers in recent months. Patients at the clinic were unsure about what the law permitted and physicians were nervous about anti-abortion sentiment, especially after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita pursued charges against Dr. Caitlin Bernard before the Indiana Medical Licensing Board.

Overall, Hagstrom Miller said she thinks public confusion on abortion law led to the dwindling numbers of procedures in recent months.

"Nothing about abortion in the US right now is simple," Hangstrom Miller said. "And I think that's part of the story here."

Contact the reporter Tory Basile at vbasile@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Out-of-state abortion patients tripled in Indiana in 2022, report says