The number of abortions performed each quarter in Indiana has plummeted compared to prior years. Provided image
The architects of Indiana's near-total abortion ban appear to have succeeded in eliminating nearly all abortions from the Hoosier State.
According to the Indiana Department of Health, a total of 159 abortions were performed at hospitals between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024 — the first one-year period with the state's Republican-enacted abortion restrictions fully in effect.
Data show each quarter of that year saw an average of 40 abortions. That's a 98% decrease from the 1,937 abortions completed between April 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023, the last quarter before the Indiana Supreme Court determined Senate Enrolled Act 1 (2022) passed constitutional muster and allowed it to go into force.
Similarly, state health records show the latest annual abortion tally is less than 2% of the 9,529 abortions women obtained in the state during calendar year 2022 when the rights formerly guaranteed by Roe v. Wade still were recognized in Indiana.
Indiana law prohibits all abortions from the moment of conception, except within 10 weeks gestation for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or 20 weeks if necessary to prevent serious physical impairment or the death of a pregnant woman, or because of a lethal fetal anomaly.
The legal justification for a majority of the pregnancies terminated in Indiana over the past year — 95 of 159 (60%) — was a lethal fetal anomaly, according to the state health agency.
Pregnancies endangering the life or physical health of a woman accounted for 52 abortions (33%), while pregnancies caused by rape or incest that were recognized and terminated prior to the statutory deadline totaled 12 (7%), records show.
In accordance with state law, every abortion was performed in a hospital or affiliated surgical center, primarily in Indianapolis. No abortions were performed at any hospital located in Northwest Indiana during the 12-month period.
Notably, Indiana's strict limits on abortion haven't led to a surge in births. There were 78,594 births during the first full year the state's near-total abortion ban was in effect, compared to 79,967 births in 2022 when abortion was more accessible to Hoosier women — a 2% decrease, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
That suggests women living in Indiana, particularly Northwest Indiana, who wish to terminate a pregnancy may simply be traveling to Illinois or Michigan where abortion remains available more or less as it was prior to the June 24, 2022, Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that repealed Roe v. Wade.
Michigan, for example, tallied 31,241 total abortions in 2023, but only 28,491 (91%) were provided to Michigan residents, according to the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services.
The most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, from 2022, counts 56,457 abortions, of which 38,964 (69%) were Illinois residents and 17,493 (31%) were residents of another state or did not report their home state.
Two court challenges to Indiana's abortion restrictions remain pending: One seeks to clarify the parameters of the woman's life or health category for a permissible abortion; while the other claims the statute imposes a single viewpoint on when life begins and thereby violates the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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