Did Georgia’s Abortion Law Reduce Abortions—or Relocate Them?

Georgia’s six-week abortion law produced an immediate and substantial decline in abortions provided inside the state. But that is only one part of the record.

When abortions obtained by Georgia residents in other states and medication mailed through telehealth are added, the available data suggest that abortion did not decline nearly as much as the clinic numbers imply. In one major pre- and post-law comparison, the estimated number obtained by Georgia residents through all measured routes was actually higher after the ban.

The law changed where and how abortions occurred. It moved thousands across state lines and, increasingly, from clinics to mailboxes.

The Immediate Drop Inside Georgia

House Bill 481 took effect July 20, 2022, prohibiting most abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, generally around six weeks from the patient’s last menstrual period. Limited exceptions remain for medical emergencies, certain serious fetal conditions, and pregnancies resulting from rape or incest when legal requirements are met.

The effect on Georgia providers was immediate.

The Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount project estimated that 4,450 abortions were provided to patients in Georgia in June 2022, the final full month before the law took effect. By December, the monthly total had fallen to 2,420—a decline of nearly 46%.

That is the clearest argument that the law reduced abortions inside Georgia’s traditional clinical system. Procedures that previously could have been performed later in pregnancy were no longer legally available, and patients who could not secure appointments before the limit had to continue their pregnancies or look elsewhere.

But the numbers began rising again—not because Georgia expanded its legal window, but because patients found other routes.

The Most Revealing Comparison

A #WeCount analysis combined information from abortion providers, the Guttmacher Institute and clinicians working under telehealth shield laws. It compared abortions obtained by Georgia residents during the second halves of 2020 and 2023.

How Georgia residents obtained care	July–December 2020	July–December 2023	Change
At facilities in Georgia	17,255	11,985	Down 31%
At facilities in another state	860	6,920	Up 705%
Medication mailed under shield laws	Not separately measured	2,920	New measured route
Total through measured routes	18,115	21,825	Up 20%

The comparison illustrates two very different stories.

Abortions obtained at Georgia facilities fell by about 5,270. At the same time, the estimated number of Georgia residents traveling to another state increased by approximately 6,060—more than eight times the earlier level. Another 2,920 medication abortions were provided remotely by clinicians operating under shield laws.

In 2020, approximately 95% of the measured abortions obtained by Georgia residents occurred inside Georgia. By the second half of 2023, that share had fallen to about 55%. Nearly one-third involved interstate travel, while approximately 13% came through shield-law telehealth.

The estimated total rose from 18,115 to 21,825.

Those figures do not establish that the law itself caused every part of the increase. Abortion numbers can also be affected by population growth, economic conditions, contraception access and changes in the broader health-care system. The researchers additionally caution that the six-month figures were partly estimated by dividing annual totals in half.

Still, the direction of the change is difficult to miss: substantially fewer Georgia residents received care at Georgia facilities, while substantially more traveled or received medication from somewhere else. #WeCount’s Georgia comparison

“In Georgia” and “Georgia Residents” Are Different Measures

Abortion statistics are particularly easy to misread because reports do not always measure the same population.

One number may count every abortion provided at a Georgia facility, including procedures for patients who live in another state. A different number may count every abortion obtained by a Georgia resident, regardless of where the provider was located. A third may assign a telehealth abortion to Georgia because that is where the medication was mailed, even though the clinician was working in another state.

Those figures answer different questions.

During the first six months of 2025, the Guttmacher Institute estimated that 17,630 clinician-provided abortions were assigned to Georgia, compared with 17,890 during the same period in 2024. Of the 2025 total, approximately 2,210 involved patients who came to Georgia from another state.

That tells us something about the volume of care connected to Georgia. It does not tell us how many Georgia residents obtained abortions elsewhere.

Travel data provide the other half of the picture. More than 13,000 Georgia residents crossed state lines for abortion care during 2023, according to Guttmacher’s full-year estimate. Destinations included North Carolina and states as distant as Illinois and New York.

Nationally, approximately 142,000 people traveled outside their home state for an abortion in 2025. That was lower than the estimated 170,000 who traveled in 2023, but still far above pre-Dobbs levels. The recent decline in travel coincided with increased access to medication through telehealth.

Telehealth Changed the Equation

Medication abortion was already common before Georgia’s law took effect. What changed after 2023 was the emergence of shield laws in states including Massachusetts, New York, Colorado and Washington.

Those laws seek to protect clinicians who prescribe and mail abortion medication to patients in states where local law would prevent that care. Georgia does not recognize those protections, creating a continuing conflict between the law where the patient lives and the law where the clinician works.

In July 2023, #WeCount recorded approximately 370 telehealth abortions mailed to Georgia. By December 2023, the monthly number had reached 640. It climbed to 1,310 by December 2024 and approximately 1,390 by June 2025.

That represents nearly a fourfold increase in less than two years.

By June 2025, telehealth accounted for an estimated 46% of all abortions assigned to Georgia in #WeCount’s data. Only about 54% were provided in person.

The pattern is national. More than 300,000 abortions were provided through telehealth during 2025, representing 28% of the country’s total. By December, almost 15,000 abortions per month were being provided under shield laws to patients in states with bans or telehealth restrictions.

Altogether, clinicians provided an estimated 1.13 million abortions nationally during 2025—the highest annual number since 2009 and more than before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Latest #WeCount report

What the Numbers Cannot Tell Us

No available dataset offers a complete count.

The figures generally include abortions involving licensed American clinicians. They do not fully capture medication obtained through international providers, informal community networks, online pharmacies operating outside the formal health-care system or other forms of self-managed abortion.

Telehealth counts have a limitation in the opposite direction: researchers can count medication that was prescribed or mailed, but cannot confirm that every recipient used it. Some patients may also order medication from more than one source.

The data do not measure unmet need, either. They cannot show how many people wanted an abortion but were unable to obtain one, how many continued pregnancies because travel was unaffordable, or how many experienced delays before receiving care.

Travel is not an equal alternative to local access. It can require transportation, lodging, childcare and time away from work. Telehealth is also not suitable for every patient, particularly those later in pregnancy or those who need or prefer a procedural abortion.

So Did the Law Work?

The answer depends on what is being measured.

If the question is whether HB 481 reduced abortions provided in person inside Georgia, the answer is yes. In-state care fell sharply after the law took effect and remains well below the pre-ban level.

Supporters can reasonably point to that decline as evidence that the law restricted the procedures it was written to prevent. They also argue that Georgia’s exceptions preserve necessary treatment for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and medical emergencies.

If the question is whether the law produced a comparable decline in abortions obtained by Georgia residents, the best available evidence says no.

During the second half of 2023, Georgia residents obtained fewer abortions at home but traveled in far greater numbers and received thousands of prescriptions through telehealth. Across all three measured routes, the estimated total was about 20% higher than during the comparable period in 2020.

Georgia’s law therefore appears to have accomplished a territorial goal more clearly than a numerical one. It reduced abortion inside Georgia’s clinics. It did not eliminate the demand—and a growing national network helped move much of the resulting care across state lines or into the mail.

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