Abortion is currently available in 37 states and the District of Columbia, though the level of access varies dramatically depending on where you live. Thirteen states ban abortion almost entirely, and several others restrict it to the first six or twelve weeks of pregnancy. Nine states and D.C. have no gestational limit at all.
States With No Gestational Limit
The most permissive abortion access exists in Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. These places do not restrict abortion based on how far along a pregnancy is. In practice, later abortions are still uncommon and typically involve serious medical circumstances, but the law does not set a cutoff.
States That Allow Abortion Until Viability
A larger group of states permits abortion up to the point of fetal viability, generally understood to fall between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. This includes Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island, and Washington. Virginia allows abortion through the second trimester, with third-trimester restrictions.
Several states set their cutoff at a specific week rather than using the viability standard. Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania all draw the line at 24 weeks. Kansas allows abortion through 22 weeks. Ohio and Wisconsin set their limits at 20 weeks measured from fertilization.
States With Early Gestational Limits
Some states allow abortion but only within a narrow window. Florida, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, and Wyoming ban the procedure at six weeks, before many people realize they are pregnant. Nebraska and North Carolina set their limit at 12 weeks. Utah allows abortion through 18 weeks.
These early limits function as near-bans for many people, especially those who don’t have regular menstrual cycles or who need time to arrange travel, childcare, or funding.
States With Total Bans
Thirteen states prohibit nearly all abortions: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. All thirteen have zero brick-and-mortar abortion clinics. People in these states must travel out of state or, where legally possible, access medication through telehealth from a provider in a state that permits it.
Nearly all of these bans include exceptions to prevent the death of the pregnant person, but the specifics vary. Five states with bans or early limits have no health exception beyond life-threatening emergencies. Nine states have no exception for rape or incest. Twelve have no exception for fatal fetal anomalies, meaning the pregnancy must continue even when the fetus cannot survive after birth. Alabama is the only ban state that includes mental health within its health exception.
What Changed After the 2024 Elections
Voters in seven states approved abortion-related constitutional amendments in November 2024, the most such measures ever decided in a single year. Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York all passed protections for abortion access. Missouri’s amendment was particularly significant because it overturned a total ban, restoring access up to viability.
Voters in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota rejected amendments that would have expanded abortion rights. Nebraska also approved a separate measure that enshrines a ban after the first trimester into the state constitution, with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, and incest.
Waiting Periods and Other Requirements
Even in states where abortion is legal, procedural requirements can create delays. Twenty-two states require a waiting period between an initial counseling session and the procedure itself. Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin require a 24-hour wait. North Carolina, Utah, and a handful of ban states (where the requirement applies only in rare exception cases) mandate 72 hours. These waiting periods often mean two separate clinic visits, which adds cost and logistical difficulty.
Thirty-eight states require some form of parental involvement when a minor seeks an abortion. Twenty-one require parental consent, ten require parental notification, and seven require both. Nearly all of these states offer a judicial bypass process, where a court can authorize the procedure if a judge determines the minor is mature enough to make the decision or that it is in their best interest. Sixteen states also allow bypass or exceptions when the minor has experienced abuse or incest.
Shield Laws and Interstate Travel
For people traveling from ban states, a growing number of destinations have enacted shield laws designed to protect both patients and providers. As of early 2026, roughly two dozen states and D.C. have some form of shield law on the books, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
These laws block out-of-state investigations and prosecutions from reaching across state lines. They protect providers from losing their medical licenses, shield patient medical records and location data, and in some cases prevent insurers from penalizing providers. Eight states explicitly protect care delivered via telehealth regardless of where the patient is physically located, which matters for people in ban states who obtain medication abortion pills through mail from a provider in a shield-law state.
Medication Abortion Access
Medication abortion, which uses pills rather than a procedure and is approved through 10 weeks of pregnancy, has become the most common method in the U.S. The FDA removed its in-person dispensing requirement in 2021, allowing pills to be prescribed via telehealth and mailed to patients. However, at least 19 states maintain their own in-person dispensing rules, and several have banned mailing abortion pills entirely.
In states with total bans, medication abortion is technically illegal, but enforcement against individual patients has been limited. Some telehealth services based in shield-law states continue to mail pills to patients in restricted states, operating in a legal gray area that varies by jurisdiction. The practical reality is that access depends heavily on whether you live in or near a state with legal protections.