Abortion Reporting: Indiana (2024)

Indiana’s 2024 quarterly abortion reports were published by the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) throughout the year and into early 2025. The state’s annual 2024 abortion report, an aggregate of the 2024 quarterly reports, was published in April 2025. These reports showed that in 2024, brick-and-mortar abortions in Indiana decreased drastically from 2023. This drastic decrease was likely due to the state’s life-at-conception law being in effect for the entirety of 2024. The law’s exceptions allow abortions to be performed in the cases where a continued pregnancy would threaten the mother’s life or physical health, if the unborn child was conceived via rape or incest, or if the unborn child had a lethal fetal anomaly.

In what follows, Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) summarizes the information in the abortion report published by the state. The data published by the state does not include the total number of abortions obtained by Indiana residents out of state or the number of self-managed abortions on women outside of the healthcare system. The report also does not contain the number of mail-order abortion drugs obtained by Indiana residents prescribed by licensed abortion providers in other states under shield laws. In a separate section, CLI will describe data provided by the Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study that details the number of abortions obtained by Indiana women in other states in 2023. Guttmacher’s abortion estimates include the number of abortions obtained at brick-and-mortar facilities and those provided via telehealth and virtual providers in the United States.

Indiana’s statute code defines abortion as “the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus. The term includes abortions by surgical procedures and by abortion inducing drugs” (§16-18-2-1).

Statistics and Changes in Indiana Abortions, 2023-2024

Planned Parenthood does not perform abortions in Indiana following the enforcement of the state’s life-at-conception law in August 2023.

Abortion Totals and Trends

In 2024, there were 146 abortions reported in Indiana, down 97% from the previous year. Drug-induced abortions decreased by 99% and composed 25% of the total, as opposed to 61% in 2023 (Fig. 1). CLI estimates that Indiana’s 2024 abortion rate was 0.11 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, a decrease of 97% from 2023 (Fig. 2).¹ As of May 2025, three states have released 2024 abortion statistics, with two showing decreases in abortions from 2023 to 2024.

Four incomplete abortion reports were submitted to IDOH for abortions occurring in the fourth quarter of 2024. The state counted the abortions in the total number of abortions occurring in the state for 2024, but did not include the four abortions in any calculation related to demographics or percentages. For this reason, CLI added the four abortions to all demographic and percentage-based calculations as an “unknown” category.

State Report Summary

In 2024, 95% of the abortions reported in Indiana were performed on state residents. Four abortions were performed on nonresidents, while the residency of four women who obtained abortions in Indiana was unknown. Two abortions were performed on girls under the age of 16, while 16% were performed on girls between the ages of 16 and 24. Just over half (52%) were performed on women aged 25 to 34, and 28% were performed on women between the ages of 35 and 45. Four abortions were performed on women whose ages were unknown.

Sixty-two percent of Indiana abortions were performed on white women and 25% on black women. Three abortions each were performed on Asian women and Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian women. One abortion was performed on an American Indian/Alaska Native woman. The race of nine women who obtained abortions in Indiana was unknown, while two other women were of other, unspecified races. Eighty-four percent of Indiana abortions were obtained by non-Hispanic women, while 11% were obtained by Hispanic women. Five percent of the abortions in the state were performed on women of unknown ethnicity.

Three of the abortions in Indiana were performed on women with an eighth-grade education or less, and four on women who had attended but not completed high school. Twelve percent of Indiana abortions were obtained by women with a high school diploma or its equivalent as their highest level of education, and 36% were obtained by women who had completed some college but did not have a degree. Nineteen percent of abortions were performed on women with a college degree. The level of education was unknown for 23% of the abortions.

Fifty-one percent of the abortions reported in Indiana were obtained by unmarried women and 46% by married women. The marital status was unknown for four women. Thirty-six percent of Indiana abortions were performed on women with no living children, 29% on women with one child, and 32% on women with two or more children. Ninety-four percent of the abortions were obtained by women with no previous abortions, compared to 3% on women with one prior abortion and one abortion on a woman with more than one prior abortion. Thirty percent of the abortions were performed on women who had previously had a miscarriage.

Forty-two percent of the abortions reported in Indiana were surgically induced. Surgically induced abortions include suction curettage abortions, menstrual aspiration abortions, dilation and evacuation abortions, and other procedures, although the reports did not include the percentage of abortions performed by each specific procedure type. A quarter were drug-induced and 30% were performed via intracardiac injection. Five abortions were performed via unknown means.

All 146 abortions performed in the state in 2024 were performed at hospitals, as all were performed under the exceptions to the state’s life-at-conception law. Since freestanding abortion centers like Planned Parenthood or independent centers do not provide actual medical care, they were unable to provide medical care to women whose lives and/or physical health were threatened by continued pregnancies.² Furthermore, all freestanding abortion centers in the state closed in August 2023 so abortions performed due to rape and incest or because the unborn child had a lethal fetal anomaly were also all performed in hospitals. However, Indiana’s reports did not break down the reasons for abortion by performing facility. Riley Health Maternity Tower performed 46% of Indiana abortions in 2024, while the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital performed 36%. Seven other hospitals and four unknown locations performed the remainder of the state’s abortions in 2024.

To see the breakdown of abortions by month in 2024, see the following table:

Additional Information Reported in 2024 Quarterly Reports

As previously mentioned, several changes occurred to Indiana’s abortion reporting requirements after quarter two in 2023, and several additional reporting requirements went into effect for all future abortion reports.

Three babies were reported to have been born alive during an abortion. In 2024, 64% of abortions were performed because the unborn child had a fetal anomaly, and 27% were performed because the mother’s life or physical health was at risk. Nine abortions were performed due to rape or incest while four were performed for unknown reasons.³

Another piece of information Indiana started providing in the last two quarters of 2023 was the number of reports submitted to the IDOH within the required 30 days for abortions performed on girls and women 16 and older, and within three days to the IDOH and Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) for abortions performed on minors under 16. All but four reports (136) for abortions performed on women ages 16 and older were reported to the IDOH on time. Both abortion reports for girls under 16 were reported to both the IDOH and DCS on time. The timeliness of four reports was unknown.

Fifty-five percent of abortions in 2024 were performed via abortion drugs at eight weeks of gestation or later. Seven percent were performed via surgical abortion at eight weeks or earlier, while 35% were performed via surgical abortion after eight weeks of gestation. In 2024, 41 of 44 intracardiac injection abortions utilized an additional dilation and evacuation abortion, while one intracardiac injection utilized an mifepristone/misoprostol abortion to complete the abortion. Two intracardiac injections did not require a further procedure. One abortion was performed at or after 20 weeks post-fertilization age, and the required second attending physician was present during this abortion.

Abortion Complications

In 2024, 70 complication reports were filed, with information on 91 complications (patients can have more than one complication listed on a report).³ Fifty-nine percent of the complication reports were associated with drug-induced abortions, including four known to have resulted from mail-order abortions. Thirty-nine percent of complication reports involved surgical abortions, and 3% involved an unknown method.

The most frequently reported complication was incomplete abortion (retained tissue), with 51 cases reported. There were 11 cases of vaginal bleeding, eight infections, and four failed abortions. There were 10 uncategorized complications and one case each of psychological complications, uterine perforation, shock, a missed ectopic pregnancy, free fluid in the abdomen, and cervical laceration. One complication was labeled as an adverse event as defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Women were admitted to the hospital in 11 cases, 42 complications resulted in surgical intervention, two complications required blood transfusions, and 21 complications were treated with medication. In five cases, other treatment was used, and an unknown treatment was utilized 10 times. Overall, 93% of the complication reports noted that the initial abortion provider was not the one who treated the woman’s complication(s).

The 2024 complication reports included information on the facilities where the patient presented with complications and the number of reports by the facility performing the abortion. Nineteen of the 26 facilities that treated women for abortion-related complications reported zero abortions in Indiana in 2024. Furthermore, the 2024 complication reports showed that 13 of the 146 abortions performed in the state were performed at hospitals that did not treat any complications. There were 13 complication reports stemming from abortions that were performed outside of Indiana (10 from Illinois facilities, one from a Michigan facility, and two from Planned Parenthood centers in unknown states). Six complication reports were from abortions performed in Indiana, while 51 complication reports resulted from abortions that were performed at an unknown location.

Half of the complication reports were for women aged 25 to 34, while 31% were for girls between the ages of 16 and 24. Nine reports were for women between the ages of 35 and 44, and three were for girls under the age of 16. Half of the complication reports were for abortions performed on African American women, and 31% were for white women. There was one report each for multi-racial and Asian women and no reports for American Indian/Alaska Native women. Race was not reported in 11 of the complication reports. Seventy-four percent of the complication reports were for abortions performed on non-Hispanic women, while three were for Hispanic women. Ethnicity was not reported in 15 of the complication reports.

Guttmacher Data⁴

Guttmacher estimated the number of abortions that were obtained by Indiana residents who traveled to other states to obtain an abortion. This data is only available for 2023, and it is important to note that Indiana’s life-at-conception law went into effect in August of 2023. Therefore, the number of Indiana residents who traveled out of state to obtain an abortion likely increased in 2024 when Indiana’s law was in effect for the entire year. However, it is helpful to list the 2023 data to show how Indiana women are still obtaining abortions out of state despite the state prohibiting almost all brick-and-mortar abortions. For the number of abortions obtained by Indiana women in various states according to Guttmacher, see the following table:

State Ranking

In CLI’s 2024 reevaluation of states’ abortion reporting requirements, Indiana was tied for fourth best. Since CLI’s original evaluation of abortion reporting requirements in 2016, Indiana has vastly improved their abortion reporting. Because the state has prohibited most brick-and-mortar abortions from being performed in the state, and many of the state’s reporting requirements cover topics associated with the abortions that are still performed, the only area of data collection left to improve upon (the mailing of abortion drugs into the state) may not be feasible given the legal landscape of shield laws.

1. National rates were calculated by the Guttmacher Institute. Indiana rates were calculated by CLI using the following formula: (total number of abortions performed in Indiana ÷ number of resident women ages 15-44 [based on most recent population estimates]) x 1,000. Rates may differ slightly from previous CLI articles due to revised population estimates. Population estimates were obtained from the CDC WONDER database. Estimates for 2005-2009 are intercensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2010-2019 are Vintage 2020 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2020-2024 are Vintage 2023 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. Rates for 2024 were calculated using the Vintage 2023 postcensal estimates because 2024 population estimates have not yet been released by the CDC.
2. CLI is reporting on this information as it appeared in Indiana’s abortion report. However, it is important to note that the “life or physical health” cases described as exceptions to the state’s abortion law are not the same as elective abortions. They are descriptions of emergency medical care allowed under the state’s law to save the life or physical health of the mother. The state law differentiates these medical procedures from an elective abortion, which, when performed, has the sole intent of causing the death of an unborn baby.
3. Statistics on abortion complications reported here represent a minimal number of deaths and complications, as this data is collected in a non-systematic and non-verifiable way. As such, this data cannot be used to calculate either an accurate abortion mortality rate or an accurate abortion complication rate for the state.
4. The Guttmacher Institute notes that their monthly abortion totals by states are estimates and that each state’s estimate is within a range of uncertainty. Guttmacher also notes that their estimates do not reflect self-managed abortions or those obtained by women in pro-life states under shield laws. This information is updated as of April 24, 2025.

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