Association Between Distance to an Abortion Facility and Abortion or Pregnancy Outcome Among a Prospective Cohort of People Seeking Abortion Online

Abstract

Abortion is a common pregnancy outcome in the United States and an essential health service, yet many people must travel long distances to reach an abortion facility. As of 2017, 89% of counties within the US did not have a facility providing abortion.¹ Myriad state laws across the US make it harder to obtain an abortion. An unprecedented number of increasingly aggressive restrictions have been enacted in recent years, including the 6-week abortion ban in Texas and laws in 26 states that will certainly or likely ban abortion if the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade.^2,3 State-level abortion restrictions also influence the geographic distribution of facilities, given that these restrictions may be associated with facilities closing and dissuade new facilities from opening, often where needed most.^4-8