One Year Later: Florida's Abortion Ban Has Collapsed Deep South Access and Pushed Care Farther Away Than Ever
Media Contact:
Eleanor Grano, Communications Manager, Chicago Abortion Fund
Email: communications@chicagoabortionfund.org
Phone: 312-219-1611
CHICAGO, IL — May 1, 2025 — One year into Florida’s six-week abortion ban, the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) is hearing from more Southerners than ever, abortion seekers forced to leave their communities and travel hundreds of miles just to access basic healthcare.
Since May 1, 2024, when the six-week ban went into effect in Florida:
CAF has supported over 360 Floridians since the ban. This is a 267% increase compared to the year before the ban when CAF supported 98 Floridians.
CAF has provided Floridians with more than $180,000 in direct assistance. This is a 177% increase in funding compared to the year before the ban when CAF dispersed $65,000 to Floridians.
Across the Deep South, which we define as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, CAF has supported over 1,600 callers which is a 71% increase from the year prior to the ban (932).
CAF has distributed more than $850,000 for appointment costs and travel-related support to abortion seekers based in the Deep South, a 71% increase from the over $495,000 distributed prior to the ban.
"Florida's ban didn't just restrict care in the state," said Alicia Hurtado, Director of Advocacy and Communications of CAF. "It erased a key access point for an entire region. For many people in the Deep South, Florida was their closest option. Now, they're forced to travel 9, 10, even 12 hours one way to get to abortion care—if they can even travel at all."
Data from the Center for American Progress shows that after the Florida ban took effect, average one-way travel times to reach an abortion provider rose from 22 minutes to over 9 hours. In states like Louisiana and Alabama, driving times increased by more than eight hours. These extreme burdens fall heaviest on Black, brown, low-income, young people, and rural communities, the very people who already face the largest barriers to abortion access even before the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Each month since the ban, CAF has supported between 100 and 150 people from the Deep South1, averaging over $70,000 each month in direct support. Among those, Floridians are facing some of the highest costs. While the average CAF caller from the Southeast region needs $625 to access care in Illinois, callers from Florida require an average of $835, reflecting the longest and most expensive travel distances for people traveling for abortion in the country.
Illinois Stands Strong Amid the Crisis
While the number of out-of-state abortion seekers has surged across the country, Illinois continues to be a national access point for care post-Dobbs. The state's abortion infrastructure that includes clinics, hospitals, abortion funds, and support from elected officials at all levels of government has allowed abortion seekers to access appointments quickly with little to no wait times.
CAF, one of the nation’s largest abortion funds, has expanded its Helpline capacity, hired additional bilingual and after-hours staff, and continues to support 100% of callers who rely on Illinois for care.
In 2024, Illinois provided abortion care to an estimated 35,000 out-of-state patients, accounting for 39% of all abortions in the state, according to the Guttmacher Institute. This is the highest percentage of out-of-state care in the country.
"Illinois is proving that when you invest in abortion access, when you trust abortion funds and abortion providers to lead, and when you coordinate with lawmakers, you can protect access to abortion care for people within a state’s borders and far beyond, even as the national landscape gets darker," said Hurtado. “CAF routinely supports people from the Deep South who are crossing multiple state lines for abortion care, because the elected officials in their home state have abandoned them, their families, and their communities. They are relying on Illinois for basic, common healthcare. And we refuse to let economic barriers stand in their way.”
“The purpose of these abortion bans is to isolate people, make them afraid, and make them feel like they have nowhere to turn. Abortion funds like ours are here, ready to make sure that they can access the abortion care they want, need, and deserve.”
###
The Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) is the largest independent abortion fund in the country. For 40 years, we've been tearing down barriers to abortion care in Chicago, the Midwest, and beyond. We’re not just providing funding; we’re supporting our callers in accessing freedom, dignity, and autonomy.
CAF offers support for people seeking abortion care in Illinois including, procedure funding, travel and related needs like childcare, emotional support and logistical expertise. The organization has relationships with 75+ abortion clinics across 12 states, and supports people nationwide. Since the Dobbs decision, CAF has received support requests from over 33,000 people. In 2024 alone, CAF fielded over 16,000 support requests and distributed over $5 million in direct assistance.