With Indiana’s ban now in effect, patients seeking abortions will have to travel further

With Indiana’s abortion ban in place, in-state and out-of-state patients will have to travel further to get care, providers say. Patients now travel to Illinois or Ohio, where abortions continue temporarily as lawsuits challenging the ban continue.

Abortion clinics in Indiana and Illinois have seen an influx of patients in the days since Indiana’s ban on Sept. 15. A Sept. 19 hearing could temporarily allow abortions to continue in the state. This is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by abortion providers challenging the legality of the ban under the Indiana state constitution.

Indiana’s ban makes it a crime to provide abortion services and only allows certain exceptions. Abortion is permitted up to certain stages of pregnancy if the woman’s life is in danger, if the fetus is found to have a fatal problem, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or consanguineous intercourse. Vendors who violate the ban will have their licenses revoked and face one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Dr. Kathy McHugh, an abortion provider who works at several parenting clinics and one of two independent clinics in Indianapolis, said her clinics have seen an increase in patients coming from Indiana and out of state.

“People are really worried about getting pregnant in Indiana these days,” McHugh told ABC News.

The independent clinic where she works between June and Sept. 15 has doubled compared to the same period last year, McHugh said. More patients were choosing to get surgical abortions than medical abortions, fearing they would need follow-up care if they had any problems after the ban went into effect, McHugh said.

McHugh said she has seen “strikingly different” patient behavior in the past two weeks. Patients were angrier, more anxious, and more open about their feelings. McHugh said this is significantly different than what she was used to seeing; She uses it more to calm patients.

Because of Indiana’s waiting times, McHugh said starting Wednesday, the clinics she works at are referring patients to other clinics outside the state to make their first appointment.

Patients now have to travel to other states, such as Illinois or Michigan, to get abortion care, McHugh said. From Indianapolis, women have to drive two hours to get care in Dayton, Ohio, where abortions are temporarily available on a continuous basis, or drive two hours to Champaign, Illinois, she said.

Two independent abortion clinics in Indianapolis will close if a lawsuit challenging Indiana’s abortion legalization doesn’t end the practice. Planned Parenthood and a standalone clinic called Women’s Med will remain open to provide patients with access to other reproductive care services and referrals in other states, McHugh said.

Although Indiana’s ban allows for a few exceptions, these abortions must all occur in licensed hospitals. The ban removes the licensing component from abortion clinics, prohibiting any form of abortion care. Thus, even for patients who can legally obtain abortions, access will be limited because the state will reduce the number of places where patients can access abortion services.

Abortion care in hospitals is expensive and takes a long time. During pregnancy, the abortion procedure is “inherently more dangerous,” McHugh said.

While some patients can wait to access abortion care, others can be hurt by the wait because things can change so quickly during pregnancy, McHugh said.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois said it had been preparing for years for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and further restrictions on abortion in many states. Anticipating an influx of care patients from Indiana, he is working to increase capacity at his clinics and is announcing an expansion at the Champaign Health Center that will double the number of patients he currently sees.

In Illinois, Planned Parenthood estimates it will add 20,000 to 30,000 more out-of-state patients next year, Planned Illinois chief strategy and operations officer Christine Schultz told ABC News.

“We’ve seen a doubling of patients coming from Indiana in recent months, but we expect it to increase significantly in the coming weeks and months, perhaps 10-fold,” Schultz said.

Schultz said patients in states with restrictions now have to travel further for care because it’s not currently available in Indiana.

She added, “Patients used to show up in Indiana from neighboring states and now have to travel several 100 miles and possibly several hours to take the extra step to get to Illinois.”

When Roe was overturned in 1846, Wisconsin’s abortion ban went into effect. Planned Parenthood of Illinois said it saw a 10-fold increase in patients coming from Wisconsin after it stopped providing abortions in the state.

“About 30% of our total abortion patients now travel to Illinois from another state. So even in the last two months, we’ve seen abortion patients from 28 states outside of Illinois,” Schultz said.

Historically, patients have traveled to Illinois for care from places like Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri, but now they’re coming from states as far away as Texas, Kentucky, Iowa, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, Schultz said.

Despite this influx of patients, Schultz said wait times at Planned Parenthood’s Illinois clinics have remained the same since Roe was overturned. The wait time depends on the type of abortion care the patient needs, but Schultz said most can get care within two days, and in some cases they have to wait more than a week.

Abortion restrictions will have different effects on patients, but among the things Planned Parenthood is seeing are patients flying in for first-time care, patients needing childcare and patients applying for gas cards because gas prices are too high, Schultz said.

Schultz said abortion restrictions could disproportionately harm disadvantaged people.

“Not everyone has the resources and opportunities to travel for an abortion, and these patients who face significant barriers to care may be further harmed by more restrictive state laws and restrictions,” Schultz said.