How Much It Takes to Get an Abortion in the 'PURPLE' State of Florida?

Florida's 15-week Ban Now Becomes A Haven

In Florida, the number of abortions undertaken has increased over time, peaking in 2021. In 2021, there were 79,817 abortions performed in Florida according to AHCA[1], and 4,873 of the total cases were reported by residents out of state.

*The dashed lines represent the incomplete cases for 2022 which were last updated on Nov 1, 2022 when the story was published.

With the growing influx of out-of-state patients flocking to Florida, the purple state has seen a gradual increase in the total number of patients who seek abortion services over the past few years.

Currently, there are 54 abortion providers in Florida. This is a relatively high number compared to Alabama and Georgia as many facilities in the neighboring states either shut down or stopped providing abortion services due to statewide law restrictions. This indicates that a new rush of patients from out of state is on the way. As one of the quickly emerging abortion destinations after Roe's fall, Florida is facing new pressure to meet the increasing demand.

However, of all 67 counties in Florida, only 15 of them have access to abortion services, which has left most northern and central parts of the state as a wasteland of women's reproductive rights.

Florida presents a less desperate situation than other Southern states. However, geographic accessibility doesn't bring along a panacea for all concerns about abortion. Anxiety about secure abortion protection, along with the financial struggles experienced by patients traveling farther to seek abortion care, are awaiting all women.

In Florida, if a woman opts for an abortion, she must receive in-person state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage her from the procedure and then undergo a 24-hour waiting period before having an abortion. This means that the law requires at least two trips to the facility, which might incur extra transportation and lodging expenses for long-distance travel on patients.

Northern Floridians Are Traveling Farther

To quantify access to the facility by measuring what people really care about: how far it takes to drive there and how much is paid for gas. Let's start by looking at the distance to the nearest facility for different counties in Florida.

Escambia is on the westernmost corner of Florida. In May 2021, the only operating abortion clinic in this county was ordered to close after three patients were hospitalized, which makes Escambia the furthest county from abortion services in the state.

To get to the nearest facility in Tallahassee, patients in Escambia need to travel about 362 miles for a round trip, crossing 13 counties to reach Leon where there are only two abortion facilities.

Possible gas fees and extra lodging costs should be taken into account if patients do not wish to return and make the same 4-hour trip in the 24 hours between the first counseling and the actual procedure as mandated by Florida's law.

This long distance travel from Escambia to Tallahassee takes an estimated six to eight hours' drive for a round trip, costing roughly $50 in gas.

Patients traveling from Northern counties such as Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton have to pay more for gasoline supply than those further South because of the longer distances. In Central Florida, accessible facilities are also limited since patients there rely heavily on the abortion business at Pinellas and Hillsborough where there are more choices of facilities which, however, may not always be the closest ones to where patients live.

In addition, to plan the logistics of such a trip, occasionally patients will require a hotel near the facility. For instance, if a woman travels from Escambia to its nearest facility in Leon, the median hotel cost she has to pay is $99 per night. However, the hotel price varies greatly depending on multiple factors including the county's population, whether the facilities are located in the downtown areas, and seasonality —peak or low— will also contribute to a wide range of costs on lodging.

Here are the calculated hotel costs for each abortion facility in Florida. Filter by the median lodging cost to see traveling to which facilities would make the patients pay for the hotels at a different price. Hover over a dot for more details.

Around the only abortion facility in Osceola County, the median hotel charge is $65 per night — the cheapest hotel deal near the facilities across the state — while Sarasota County holds the highest hotel costs at a median charge of $223 for a one-night stay.

In short, it is always your ZIP Code that decides how far you drive and how much you pay. If patients wish to have more choices when selecting a safe abortion provider with a cozy and pleasant hotel to stay in afterward, they will have to throw more dollars down than others. For instance, Miami-Dade County, the most populous region in Florida and host to the most publicly accessible abortion businesses, is also home to a robust luxury hotel industry which drives up local lodging prices. There is no price cap for how much a hotel can cost in Miami.

After the Court's decision, patients will have to travel further and stay longer to seek accessible and secure abortion care. Money spent on lodging is only a small part of the much larger non-medical expenditure on the entire process including childcare, meal expenses and even flights. Thousands of dollars might also have to be spent on the procedure itself as a result of abortion care often being excluded from major health insurance plans.

The cost of an abortion can vary notably depending on geographic subregions, diverse facilities, patient's health insurance plans, and abortion types. In 2020, without any insurance coverage, the median self-pay charges of either medical or first-trimester procedural abortion (0-13 Weeks) range from $560 to $575, while later terms of second-trimester abortion (14 to 26 Weeks) can reach up to $895 or higher[3].