Illinois eases access for cross-state abortion patients

Illinois has become the country’s most important access point for abortion care, especially since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. Surrounded by states with strict limits or total bans, Illinois now serves tens of thousands of patients from across the South and Midwest each year.

What does this mean for Illinois, and how is the state managing it? Illinois has built an expanding system of public investment, private funding, and public-private coordinated partnerships that work together to ensure that both Illinois residents and out-of-state patients can access the care they need.

Why It Matters

When states restrict or ban abortion, the need for care does not disappear; it just shifts to somewhere else. Patients who cannot access care locally often travel hundreds of miles, find lodging, take time off work, arrange childcare, and navigate logistics that can delay care and increase stress.  The burdens fall hardest on those with the fewest resources: low-income individuals, rural residents, and communities of color.

Background

In 2024, the state provided care to 35,470 out-of-state patients — nearly 1 in 4 of all Americans who crossed state lines for an abortion. Southern Illinois — particularly Carbondale — has become a critical destination for patients traveling from states with total bans. One clinic in Carbondale, The Alamo Women's Clinic, says that about 90% of its patients now come from out of state.

Illinois' location— bordering Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, all of which have enacted near-total or total abortion bans — makes it uniquely situated as a refuge. Patients go to Illinois because it is relatively nearby, but also because of the legal protections, funding infrastructure, and coordinated provider networks the state has built.

The state is focusing on money, coordination, and staffing at a scale that was not anticipated before Dobbs. Several interlocking systems have emerged, such as:

• The Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF), which has provided $20 million in direct assistance that covers appointments, travel, lodging, meals, childcare, and other logistical essentials.
• The CARLA Program, a partnership between the Illinois Department of Public Health, CAF, and four Chicago hospitals, offers a confidential provider referral line for patients requiring complex, hospital-based abortion care.
• Other Illinois developments include the launch of the Prairie State Access Fund in 2026; multi-million dollar budget investments approved in state budgeting in 2024, and participation in the Midwest Access Coalition.

What We Are Watching

As of spring 2026, Illinois lawmakers are advancing two companion bills — House Bill 5408 and Senate Bill 4011 — that would establish a state-managed Abortion Access Fund Grant Program. Funded by insurer fees (projected at about $1 per insured person per month), the program would directly pay for abortion care for patients who are uninsured or underinsured, including the large population of out-of-state travelers who do not qualify for Illinois Medicaid.

These efforts represent the next layer of the public-private partnership approach that Illinois has been building since 2022.

Resources

Guttmacher Institute - State Abortion Data & Policy
Guttmacher Institute - Interactive Map: Illinois
Society of Family Planning — #WeCount Report, April 2022 to June 2025