MADISON, Wis. — According to a new report independently verified by the Cap Times, more than 5,000 Wisconsinites were forced to flee the state in 2023 to seek abortion care thanks to the years-long effort by Republican politicians like Bryan Steil and Donald Trump to overturn Roe v. Wade and rip away health care from millions of Americans.
After Donald Trump’s hand-picked Justices upended the lives and health care of millions of Americans, Bryan Steil celebrated. Steil called the decision to overturn Roe “a great victory,” even as Wisconsin women were forced to cross state lines in order to access the care they need.
See more about the state of abortion care in Wisconsin that Bryan Steil celebrates:
- In 2023 alone, over 5,000 Wisconsinites traveled to Illinois to seek abortion care, with an unknown number seeking care in neighboring states like Minnesota or Michigan.
- Patients traveling out of state to seek abortions pay over $1,000 on average to find and travel to providers.
- Access to safe abortion care is down 38% even after some Wisconsin clinics resumed services.
- Wisconsinites from all 72 counties traveled to Illinois to receive care, with 250 Wisconsinites seeking care in the Prairie State every month.
- Women in 19 counties in Wisconsin don’t have full access to maternity care, and 11 counties in Wisconsin are a maternity care desert.
- Travel time to seek abortion care nearly doubled after the fall of Roe, with Wisconsinites traveling nearly 103 minutes in September 2022, compared to just 52 minutes before the Dobbs decision.
- In 2023, nine out of 10 Wisconsin abortion patients were forced to seek out-of-state care, compared to just one in six before Roe was overturned.
“The new reporting on the state of abortion care in Wisconsin is jarring, but what’s worse are the Republican politicians like Bryan Steil who haven’t batted an eye about the chaos and pain they’re allowing Wisconsin women to face every day,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Deputy Communications Director Haley McCoy. “Voters will remember this November that when Wisconsin women’s lives were upended and our freedoms were ripped away, Bryan Steil raised a toast to the Court and celebrated.”
