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In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the long-held right to an abortion and left abortion access up to each state for the first time in 50 years. That led to most abortions being banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas, and other states, such as South Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee enforcing 6-week bans. We know more states have existing laws banning abortion that will soon take effect or will pass news laws to ban the procedure.
Information about abortion is changing quickly across the country. And in some states where abortion is already outlawed, healthcare professionals are navigating vague laws that raise questions about whether they’re able to share medically accurate information about the procedure.
Reckon is producing state-by-state guides to help our readers in states with bans understand where and how they can still find the science-based information they need about abortion. We relied on databases such as ineedana.com, talked to community-based abortion workers and verified information with local clinics.
Each guide includes information about current state law, information about the closest open abortion clinics and information about medication abortion.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), the country’s leading membership organization for obstetrician–gynecologists, reiterated shortly before the Supreme Court ruling that abortion is essential healthcare.
Editor’s note: The abortion landscape is evolving rapidly. Our coverage reflects the most up-to-date information we have at the time of publication. Please contact us if you see anything in our stories that should be updated.
About the law
Type of ban: After “fetal heartbeat” detected
Are there exceptions? To prevent the death or serious injury to the pregnant person
Are there doctors in state currently providing abortions? Only in cases where the pregnancy threatens a patient’s life or physical health
Ohio’s law makes it illegal to perform an abortion after a “fetal heartbeat” is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ guidelines say that “fetal heartbeat” language is misleading: “In fact, there are no chambers of the heart developed at the early stage in pregnancy that this word is used to describe, so there is no recognizable ‘heartbeat.’ What pregnant people may hear is the ultrasound machine translating electronic impulses that signify fetal cardiac activity into the sound that we recognize as a heartbeat.”
There is no exception for rape or incest in the law.
In mid-July, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued an explainer on exceptions to Ohio’s abortion laws. In it, he clarified that the part of the law that allows abortions in order to avoid “serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman” applies to medical emergencies including medically diagnosed conditions of pre-eclampsia, “inevitable abortion,” premature rupture of the membranes, and may also include diabetes and multiple sclerosis. It would not include conditions related to the pregnant patient’s mental health. The law does allow abortions in the case of ectopic pregnancy.
When a national outcry erupted recently after a 10-year-old Ohio girl was raped and supposedly traveled out of state for an abortion, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News that the girl would not have needed to travel outside the state to get treatment. But Yost has not directly addressed how the law would exempt abortion for a young rape victim. Other Ohio officials have said the law applies regardless of the age of the mother or the circumstances of conception.
Abortion providers who violate Ohio’s law can be found guilty of a felony of the fifth degree, resulting in imprisonment of 6-12 months and/or a fine.
Access to abortion medication via telemedicine
Ohio’s law also criminalizes abortion pills such as Mifepristone via telemedicine or by mail. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that states cannot ban mifepristone because it has been approved by the FDA. Aidaccess.org, an international non-profit, provides doctor-led consultations and mails abortion pills to all U.S. states.
Closest abortion provider to the largest cities in Ohio (as identified by ineedana.com)
Columbus
Planned Parenthood, PPWP Abortion Services
- Address: 933 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222
- Phone: (412) 562-1900
- In-clinic abortions up to 18 weeks, and medication abortions up to 10 weeks
Allegheny Reproductive Health Center
- Address: 5910 Kirkwood St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
- Phone: (412) 661-8811
- In-clinic abortions up to 23.6 weeks, and medication abortions up to 11 weeks
Planned Parenthood, Detroit Health Center
- Address: 4229 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI 48201
- Phone: (313) 831-7776
- Medication abortions up to 11 weeks
Northland Family Planning Clinic (Westland)
- Address: 35000 Ford Road, Suite 3, Westland, MI 48185
- Phone: (734) 721-4700
- In-clinic abortions up to 23.6 weeks, and medication abortions up to 10 weeks.
Planned Parenthood, Power Family Health Center of Ann Arbor
- Address: 3100 Professional Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
- Phone: (734) 973-0710
- In-clinic abortions up to 19 weeks, 6 days, and medication abortions up to 11 weeks
Planned Parenthood, Ann Arbor West Health Center
- Address: 2370 W. Stadium Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103
- Phone: (734) 929-9480
- Medication abortions up to 11 weeks
Cleveland
Planned Parenthood, Detroit Health Center
- Address: 4229 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI 48201
- Phone: (313) 831-7776
- Medication abortions up to 11 weeks
- Address: 15921 East 8 Mile Road, Eastpointe, MI 48021
- Phone: (586) 774-4190
- In-clinic abortions up to 24 weeks, and medication abortions up to 10 weeeks.
- Address: 15650 East 8 Mile Road, Detroit, MI 48205
- Phone: (313) 526-3600
- In-clinic abortions up to 20 weeks, and medication abortions up to 9 weeks
Planned Parenthood, Warren Health Center
- Address: 29350 Van Dyke Ave., Warren, MI 48093
- Phone: (586) 558-0101
- Medication abortions up to 11 weeks
- Address: 11474 15 Mile Road, Sterling Heights, MI 48312
- Phone: (586) 979-2190
- In-clinic abortions up to 20 weeks, and medication abortions up to 9 weeks
Cincinnati
Women’s Med Center (Indianapolis)
- Address: 1201 North Arlington Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46219
- Phone: (800) 382-9029
- In-clinic abortions up to 13 weeks, and medication abortions up to 10 weeks.
- Address: 3607 West 16th St., Suite B-2, Indianapolis, IN 46222
- Phone: (317) 955-2641
- In-clinic abortions up to 13 weeks, 6 days, and CALL.
Planned Parenthood, Georgetown Health Center
- Address: 8590 Georgetown Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268
- Phone: (317) 205-8088
- In-clinic abortion up to 13 weeks, 6 days, and medication abortions up to 11 weeks
Additional resources:
- A how-to-guide for understanding and maintaining digital privacy (Digital Defense Fund)
- Identify the closest abortion provider(ineedana.com)
- Find information on abortion pills (Plan C)
- Learn more about abortion pills by mail (Aid Access)
- Repro Legal Defense Fund covers bail and funds strong defenses for people targeted by police or prosecutors for ending their own pregnancy outside a clinical setting (Repro Legal Defense Fund)
The Reckon state-by-state abortion guides were reported by Abbey Crain, Anna Claire Vollers, Anna Beahm, John Hammontree, Sarah Swetlik of the Alabama Education Lab and Erica Hensley of the Fuller Project. Clarissa Brooks, Alexis Wray, Katie Johnston, Madison Underwood and Abbey Crain provided graphics. R.L. Nave, John Hammontree, Ruth Serven Smith and Kelly Scott edited the guides.