Illinois has become a primary abortion destination for the Midwest, with 30% of more than 56,000 abortions in the Land of Lincoln being performed on out-of-state residents.
According to a new number released this week by the Illinois Department of Public Health, 2022 was a high-water mark for elective pregnancy terminations, with the most abortions performed since the agency began collecting data in the mid-1990s.
Nearly 17,000 people came from other states to obtain an abortion in Illinois, a 49% increase from 2021. Abortions performed on Illinois residents decreased by approximately 1,000 between 2021 and 2022 but increased overall by 9%.
This is the agency’s first report released after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, when abortion policy again became a state-determined issue.
Several states surrounding Illinois, including Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana, banned elective abortion procedures but have not taken measures to prevent travel to neighboring states for an abortion.
Abortion is legal in both Iowa and Wisconsin up to 20- and 22-weeks gestation, respectively.
Illinois restricts abortion access up until fetal viability, which is often deemed somewhere between 23 and 26 weeks gestation, depending upon individual patient circumstances.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has been a stalwart advocate of abortion rights, taking sweeping executive actions to protect access to the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol, which accounted for over 32,000 abortions in the state in 2022.
The governor and the state legislature in 2023 also ushered through legislation that would protect healthcare workers and patients from legal action taken by neighboring states that have criminalized abortion.
“Here in Illinois, we hold certain ideals: abortion is healthcare. A medical decision should be made between a patient and their doctor — no one else,” Pritzker said last year.
Over 65% of abortions in Illinois were performed on women between the ages of 18 and 29.
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Upward of 83% of all abortions in the state were performed before 11 weeks gestation, the point at which the nervous system of the fetus is developed enough to feel pain in the same way as an infant.
Approximately 49% of abortions in Illinois were completed before eight weeks gestation, after cardiac activity is identifiable via ultrasound.
