At Family Planning Associates in Chicago, the office where staff take phone calls from potential abortion patients has a U.S.
map on the wall—red and green dry-erase markers showing the shifting status of abortion access by state.
It changes so often that the update feels less like a lesson and more like weather.
Illinois’s “haven” strategy turns geography into demand
In that map’s central red field, Illinois sits outlined in green, an easy visual cue for a hard reality: the state is now the destination for nearly 1 in 4 people traveling to another state for abortion care, according to data tracked by Misryoum.
The numbers don’t just reflect politics.
Misryoum newsroom reporting and analysis indicates that geography plays a role because, in five of the six border states, abortion is either banned or largely inaccessible.
But Illinois is also among the places that have backed “safe access” with new policies—plus money—specifically aimed at people who aren’t residents.
That approach has been echoed in other states recently.
Misryoum editorial desk noted that governors approved funding in Maine and Washington for family planning and abortion care, including for out-of-state patients.
It’s not a brand-new idea—just one that’s spreading, especially after the U.S.
Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion and allowed states to regulate the procedure.
Since then, 13 states have implemented near-total bans, and seven others have bans after six to 12 weeks. About one-quarter of people who need an abortion obtain medication by telemedicine, but many still travel for reasons ranging from medical logistics to fear of prosecution.
Misryoum data indicates that national travel has eased compared with the peak after Dobbs.
The peak of 170,000 people traveling for care was recorded in 2023.
That fell to about 155,000 in 2024, including 35,000 who went to Illinois.
In 2025, an estimated 142,000 patients traveled out of state, with about 32,000 going to Illinois—roughly consistent, even after the early shock.
Illinois’s continued pull appears to be tied to state-level decisions that make care more reachable and, importantly, less risky for providers.
Policies, funding, and security help keep clinics open
Misryoum reporting includes a key dynamic: Illinois benefits from shield laws that protect health care providers in many states, including California, Illinois and New York.
Those protections have helped prevent Republican attorneys general in other states—such as Texas and Louisiana—from trying to punish providers who prescribe the drugs.
Louisiana has unsuccessfully tried to charge and extradite doctors from California and New York, and is also suing the federal government to remove the provision that allows abortion medication to be prescribed by telehealth.
A federal judge put the case on hold for now as the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration completes a safety review.
Back in Illinois, advocates say the “haven” reputation isn’t just rhetoric—it’s operational.
Misryoum newsroom reporting highlighted how Illinois’s strategy changed after Dobbs.
Family Planning Associates, one of the largest independent abortion clinics in the state, expanded staff—doctors, nurses, and front desk workers—from about 40 people to more than 70 in the first year after Dobbs, and increased its physical space by about two-thirds, according to Dr.
Allison Cowett.
The change also shows up in the support network around patients.
In 2018, Illinois allowed its state Medicaid program to cover abortion procedures, a shift that made it possible for groups to scale help beyond residents.
The Chicago Abortion Fund says Illinois didn’t invest in access the way it does now when the volunteer group started back in 2016; the biggest change came in 2018.
Then, in 2023, Democratic lawmakers allocated $10 million from the state health department to establish CARLA—the Complex Abortion Regional Line for Access—a hotline coordinating help between the Chicago Abortion Fund and four area hospitals.
Misryoum analysis indicates the hotline has assisted more than 1,000 people since.
Illinois also filled gaps after Congress passed a provision blocking federal Medicaid payments to certain abortion providers, mainly targeting Planned Parenthood. Misryoum editorial desk noted the state used its own resources for training and other programs connecting people with care.
In January, Illinois launched a partnership with the Chicago-based Michael Reese Health Trust to establish the Prairie State Access Fund, meant to provide aid to out-of-state patients needing reproductive and gender-affirming health care.
And, perhaps not as visible in headlines but crucial in real life, Illinois has supported security efforts.
Misryoum reporting describes grants to nonprofits to protect clinics, referencing a clinic firebombing in Peoria in 2023—two days after Democratic Gov.
JB Pritzker signed abortion protections into law, with no one in the building at the time.
For clinics in the southern part of Illinois, this matters even more.
Choices: Center for Reproductive Health in Carbondale sits near the intersection of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Misryoum newsroom reporting states that a shorter drive can bring people in, but the threats don’t disappear—so the state grant helped harden the physical security there, something not available for the clinic’s sister location in Memphis, Tennessee.
Maine Gov.
Janet Mills signed a budget bill Friday that includes funding for lost Medicaid reimbursements and creates an ongoing $5 million annual appropriation for family planning services.
Washington Gov.
Bob Ferguson signed a law in late March establishing a new revenue source for abortion care via a tax on health insurance companies expected to generate about $10 million in the first year and about $2 million in each subsequent year.
Maybe that’s the lesson policymakers in other states are trying to take—resources matter as much as proximity.
Misryoum newsroom reporting also suggests advocates want more states to expand clinic availability and rescind waiting periods, including Wisconsin’s 24-hour waiting requirement that still exists.
Still, the way Illinois became a destination—through a mix of access, shield protections, funding pipelines, and security—can’t be copied with a single law.
It’s messy, ongoing, and it looks like it’s staying that way.
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