07.11.24

SENATE REPORT: Women Burdened By Dobbs Decision No Matter What State They Live In

In new interviews and discussions with more than 80 doctors, educators, and advocates across the country, dire post-Dobbs trends emerge: Longer wait times, onerous travel, worsening health care deserts, a thinning workforce pipeline, & harrowing cases of patients airlifted out of state

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and 14 women Democratic senators released a new report, Two Years Post-Dobbs: The Nationwide Impacts of Abortion Bans. The report released today details how the Dobbs decision is harming women’s health care in states across the U.S. – whether those states have abortion bans or not.

The report is based on interviews and discussions over the past two months between Sen. Cantwell’s office and more than 80 health care providers and advocates from all across the country. These front-line workers describe how overturning Roe v. Wade has harmed care for women across America.

Examples of the cascading and nationwide impacts of Dobbs on women’s access to reproductive health care include:

  • Women with wanted pregnancies are leaving abortion ban states to seek care. In some emergency situations, patients are being airlifted out.
  • New data on how Florida’s abortion ban is burdening patients across the South by forcing them to travel as far as Illinois for care.
  • Evidence of a ripple effect from abortion bans -- reproductive health care wait times have increased for patients in some pro-choice states, especially in major cities near airports.
  • OB/GYNs and other health care providers are fleeing abortion ban states, and some medical students are refusing to train in them.

Sen. Cantwell, Sen. Schumer, and Senators Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined in releasing today’s report.

"At least 23 million women of reproductive age nationwide live in states with abortion bans. That's 23 million women who won't have access to care if they become pregnant and need to have an abortion," Sen. Cantwell in previewing the report at a press conference Tuesday. "Women … are in life threatening situations and are being denied access to care."

“It has been over two years since the MAGA Supreme Court threw the country into chaos with their disastrous Dobbs decision which ripped away the fundamental right to choice from women across the country,” said Leader Schumer. “It is now clear that this decision has strained our health care system and forced women to travel across state lines to get essential care, putting them in heart-breaking and devastating situations. Senate Republicans have shown that they are beholden to the extremists in their party – even as the American people continue to voice support for reproductive freedoms. Senate Democrats will fight as long as it takes to restore this most vital of protections.”

“The patchwork of laws emerging from the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision have caused unnecessary chaos and confusion for patients and providers,” said Sen. Laphonza Butler. “This report shows how leaving abortion rights to the states has done more harm than good, and underscores why we need to protect abortion access for all.”

“This report illustrates the state of our strained reproductive health care system and the nationwide impact of Republicans’ extremist ideological agenda to exert power and control over women’s bodies,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono. “Two years after the Supreme Court’s devastating Dobbs decision, women continue to face attacks on their fundamental reproductive rights—from being denied life-saving emergency care to being forced to travel long distances for abortion care—and I will continue fighting for reproductive freedom for all.”

“In the two years since the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, our nation has seen the horrific consequences of MAGA Republicans’ relentless anti-choice crusade against women, doctors and our entire healthcare system,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth. “Republicans’ attacks have caused an influx of patients to travel to Illinois—a proud beacon of reproductive freedom. And while we’ve welcomed them with open arms, let’s be clear: No one should be forced to travel out of state to access the care they need. This report shows that now as much as ever, we must do more at the federal level to protect and expand affordable access to emergency care and enshrine every American’s freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies.”

“Two years ago, the Supreme Court shook the nation when they took away the fundamental freedom to make our own reproductive health decisions, putting the lives of so many women at risk,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow. “1 in 3 American women now live in a state with extreme restrictions on abortion. This report reaffirms what we already know: the Republican-led assault on our reproductive freedom is endangering women and placing an enormous strain on our health care system.”

“Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, women have been at the mercy of a patchwork of laws. This report underscores the devastating impacts of the Dobbs decision on women who now live under extreme bans and the ripple effect this is having on states without bans,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “This may be our current reality, but it doesn’t have to be our future. That’s why I am fighting to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into law.”

“In the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, I’ve heard the devastating impacts of stripping away Wisconsin women’s reproductive rights,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin. “I heard harrowing stories, like one Wisconsin woman that bled for more than 10 days from an incomplete miscarriage after emergency room staff would not treat her because they feared they would be criminally prosecuted for providing lifesaving care. Other women have been forced to jump through hoops just to get the care they need, from driving hundreds of miles to access care to waiting hours at overburdened clinics. I’m fighting to pass legislation to restore Roe because a woman’s freedom to control her own body and get health care should not depend on the state she lives in.” 

“This Senate report is clear: no one has been spared the terrible effects of the far-right Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “Doctors, nurses, and patients have been sounding the alarm that women across the country are being denied the medical care they need because of Republican politicians, and we must fight back by making reproductive freedom law of the land.”

“1 in 3 women of childbearing age live in a state with a Trump abortion ban. But the chaos doesn’t stop there,” said Sen. Tina Smith. “Abortion haven states like Minnesota are facing an influx of patients from states where women have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had. This report confirms what we already know– abortion bans put immense financial and psychological burdens on the women who have to travel to receive basic care and increases demands on providers in states like Minnesota to meet the needs of all patients. I will not stop fighting until reproductive freedom is restored for every woman nationwide.”

“Two years ago, the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court stripped away the rights to bodily autonomy, privacy and reproductive care,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. “Since then, states across the country have criminalized basic reproductive health care, threatened to charge medical professionals with felonies for doing their jobs, and denied millions of women access to essential medical care. The Dobbs decision remains as harmful today as it was two years ago, and Senate Democrats will continue working to pass federal legislation to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land and to ensure women have the rights to make health decisions about their own bodies.”

“Leaving abortion rights up to individual states is catastrophic for women across the country whose lives and futures are being determined by anti-choice extremists,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. “Nevada is a proud pro-choice state, but the overturning of Roe v. Wade has impacted all of us – from doctors in Las Vegas who are seeing hundreds of patients traveling for care to women who have been forced to flee their homes to get the support they need. I won’t stop fighting to restore reproductive freedom for all women nationwide.”

“This report shows again that, two years after the Dobbs decision, the horrors of our new reality grow every day: more women are denied essential health care and forced to travel long distances under the threat of prosecution, more women are left to get sicker and sicker when they’re in desperate need of care, and more women are forced to beg judges and politicians for the right to end their pregnancies,” said Sen. Murray. “And in a surprise to no one, health care providers do not want to work in states where politicians get between doctors and their patients, and threaten providers with jail time, and the loss of their medical license if they dare to help patients get the abortion care they need. So, in states like Idaho with extreme abortion bans, we are seeing health care providers closing their doors and shutting down their practices, new doctors staying away, and fewer options for patients to get a whole range of necessary health care services. The consequences of the Dobbs decision extend far beyond abortion—and they are putting a severe strain on health care systems everywhere, including in Washington state. Democrats will keep fighting with everything we’ve got until women in every state have the right to make their own health care decisions, free from interference by politicians.”

“It’s heartbreaking that we now live in a country where our daughters and granddaughters have fewer reproductive freedoms than the women who came before them,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. “This report clearly indicates the devastating and wide impacts the Dobbs decision has had on women across the nation, including in the Granite State. We must keep fighting in Congress to restore, protect and expand women’s right to access full reproductive health care.”

“In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, anti-choice extremists have repeatedly attacked women’s reproductive freedoms and their ability to access life-saving care,” said Sen. Jacky Rosen. “This report shows the real-world negative impacts that those efforts have had on women across the United States. We must keep fighting to restore Roe in federal law.”

Two years ago, on June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning a half century of national abortion rights under Roe v. Wade. 

Since the ruling, Sen. Cantwell has worked to monitor its impact in her home state of Washington. On the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Cantwell released a snapshot report that detailed the impact of the ruling on abortion providers and patients in Washington state. Among other far-reaching impacts, the report found that Idaho's abortion ban led to a 56% surge in abortion patients from Idaho seeking care at Eastern Washington abortion clinics by June 2023.

Last month, on the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs ruling, Cantwell released another report showing that the impact of the Dobbs decision on Washington state's health care system appears much wider – going well beyond abortion – and continues to affect Washington patients and providers.

A full timeline of Senator Cantwell’s actions since a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked in spring 2022 is available HERE.

###