The average American woman could be forced to travel around 125 miles to reach the nearest abortion provider if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, compared to the current average of 25 miles, the Myers Abortion Facility database shows.
According to the database, the percentage of women living more than 200 miles from an abortion provider would increase to 29% from the current 1%.
In large areas of the United States, women already have no options within a 250-mile drive, especially in the central region of the country, while some counties are at least 350 miles from the nearest provider.
There are areas in North and South Dakota, West Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska that are at least a four-hour drive from a provider.
Its data ads to the Guttmacher Institute’s report which showed that American women in the southern and Midwest states would have to travel hundreds of miles to access the abortion providers and services.
In Florida, for example, where people travel around 8 miles one-way to reach the closest abortion provider, the average one-way driving distance under a total abortion ban increase a whopping 6,803% – to 575 miles.
Louisiana residents, which currently travel approximately 37 miles one-way when seeking abortion care, would this way have to face over 666 miles one-way trip – the longest distance of all.
In a case that is a direct challenge to Roe, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a challenge today to a Mississippi law that bans nearly all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.
While state Republicans ramped up efforts to get the landmark ruling overturned, 12 US states will immediately restrict abortion if Roe disappears, while others would most likely impose significant new restrictions since states have been preparing contingency plans for a post-Roe landscape.
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