There were 946 abortions reported as taking place in October in Montgomery County compared to 228 in September, according to a new monthly report on preliminary abortion numbers.
The reports are a new requirement coming from the last state budget bill, so only numbers for September and October are available. The figures reported are preliminary and are based on the date the event is reported to the Ohio Department of Health and not the date of the patient encounter, according to the state.
Because those figures are dependent on when they get reported to the state, there can be wide variations from month to month, the Ohio Department of Health said.
“It is very concerning, though, that the numbers did jump drastically,” Christie said.
It’s not clear what caused the jump in the number of abortions being reported as taking place in Montgomery County, but Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio is continuing to see an increase in out-of-state patients, the organization said.
“Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, we’ve witnessed sweeping efforts to ban or significantly halt access to reproductive health care in unfriendly states across the nation and especially in the South,” a Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio spokesperson said.
Depending on the time of the year, Planned Parenthood will see fluctuation in demand from service to service, but generally, across the board, its abortion appointments continue to increase in comparison to the previous year, the organization said.
Dayton Surgical Center remains open despite others closing
At the beginning of the year, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio acquired the Women’s Med Center of Dayton, one of a few abortion clinics in Ohio. The facility, located in Kettering, is now called the Dayton Surgical Center of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio.
The Dayton Surgical Center is also open and operating regularly despite the impacts of Medicaid cuts that resulted in the closure of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio’s family planning clinics in Hamilton and Springfield earlier this year.
The federal reconciliation bill — the One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 — bans health care providers that offer abortion services from participating in the Medicaid program. Nationally, Planned Parenthood reports that around 3% of its services are for abortion.
About 40% of people who used the region’s family planning clinics in Dayton, Cincinnati, Hamilton and Springfield were insured through Medicaid, according to Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio. Now only the Dayton and Cincinnati clinics remain, and neither of them can receive Medicaid funds.
More than 3,000 abortions reported in October
Ohio also borders three states with abortion bans, including Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati called southwest Ohio “a prime destination for abortion tourism.”
“The pro-life movement in both Cincinnati and Dayton must remain united, vigilant and determined,” a newsletter statement from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati reads. “Planned Parenthood’s expansion is strategic, well-funded and ruthless in its pursuit of increased abortion numbers. Our region has become the abortion capital of the Midwest.”
With 3,092 abortions reported in Ohio for October of this year, Montgomery County had the highest number of abortions reported as occurring within this area with 946, according to preliminary state data. Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, had the second highest in October with 677 abortions.
Out of the 3,092 abortions, about 1,570 of those abortions were for Ohio residents.
“This increase in demand for abortion care isn’t just coming from our region; it’s coming from thousands who have been forced to travel from as far as Florida and Texas for care,” a Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio spokesperson said.
In November 2023, Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution, and that amendment went into effect in December 2023.
“Thanks to the efforts of Ohioans in 2023, we have become a haven for reproductive health care access to Americans in need and our southwest Ohio centers are the first point of access in the state,” a Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio spokesperson said. “It’s a responsibility we take seriously and certainly influenced our decision to open the Dayton Surgical Center as a response to the demand.”
Last year, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas also granted a temporary injunction on Ohio’s waiting period law that required abortion patients to wait a minimum of 24 hours after receiving state-mandated information in person before accessing abortion care.
“It used to be you’d have an appointment, then you’d have to wait 24 hours before you could come back, and some of those moms might have changed their mind in that 24-hour period,” Christie said. “Now when they go, they’re going to get the abortion.”
The case is still active in Franklin County.
“We just encourage women to explore all their options, all their choices, and to not make a quick decision,” Christie said.
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