(KIWA Staff Photo)
Statewide Iowa (RI) — A new report shows more Iowans are traveling out of state for abortions and obtaining abortion pills from out-of-state providers after Iowa’s law banning most abortions took effect in late July 2024.
Isaac Maddow-Zimet of the Guttmacher Institute says the numbers have climbed sharply.
Iowa’s 2024 law bans most abortions after cardiac activity is detected, around the sixth week of a pregnancy, with limited exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother, and fetal abnormalities.
The report also tracked how many Iowans were prescribed abortion pills in 2025, the first full year the law was in effect.
An Iowa law that took effect July 1st requires patients seeking medication abortions to see a provider in person, and the pills must be dispensed at a medical center in Iowa. States like Illinois and Minnesota have “shield laws” that allow providers there to prescribe abortion pills to patients who live in Iowa and other states with dispensing restrictions.
