Last updated on December 19, 2025
Ohio is characterized as a state with some restrictions/protections by the Guttmacher Institute.
Abortion is protected up to fetal viability (with exceptions for preservation of the mother’s life or physical health). The state constitution protects the right to an abortion.
In the US, people who are not white and people with low incomes are more likely to experience barriers to reproductive health care access.
IN THIS STATE
As of 2023, 2.4 million women1 are of reproductive age in Ohio.
- 13.1 percent are low income (higher than the national average)
- 18.4 percent are likely eligible for Medicaid because their income is at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (higher than the national average)
- 27.2 percent are nonwhite (lower than the national average), and Black people are the largest nonwhite group (12.9 percent; similar to the national average)
- 7.6 percent are uninsured (lower than the national average)
Ohio has expanded Medicaid and thus provides coverage to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and pregnant women up to 205 percent of FPL. Ohio has extended pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage up to 12 months postpartum. Ohio does not utilize state funds to cover abortion for Medicaid beneficiaries with limited exceptions. The state has not expanded Medicaid eligibility for coverage of family planning services.
Accessing Abortion Care
In 2020, 10 clinics provided abortions. In 2025, 13 clinics provided abortions. This number does not include hospitals or telehealth providers.
Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are organizations—often operated by anti-abortion, nonmedical, and/or religiously affiliated groups—that aim to deter pregnant people from certain reproductive health care services, including abortion and some contraceptive methods. In 2023, there were 124 CPCs in Ohio. These centers receive state funding.
Patients face the following restrictions on abortion access:
Abortion providers in Ohio face the following restrictions that limit their ability to practice:
Accessing Contraceptive Care
According to Power to Decide, around 725,000 women of reproductive age in Ohio live in contraceptive deserts, putting them at increased risk of a mistimed or unintended pregnancy.
Ohio has the following protections for contraception access:
What to Watch For
In 2023, Ohio voters approved Issue 1, which amended the state constitution to establish “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.” Under this amendment, the state cannot prohibit abortion before viability or if the pregnant person’s life or health are at risk. As a result, the state’s ban on abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which typically occurs around six weeks gestation, has been blocked by the courts.
Two ongoing court cases—Preterm-Cleveland v. Yost and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region v. Ohio Department of Health—challenge the legality of abortion restrictions in light of the constitutional amendment, including the fetal cardiac test requirement, 24-hour waiting period, ban on telemedicine provision of medication abortion, and prohibition against advanced practice clinicians prescribing mifepristone. These restrictions are preliminarily enjoined. These cases could end up before the Ohio Supreme Court, the makeup of which is six Republican justices and one Democratic justice.
1 Though we use the terminology of woman/women, we recognize that not all individuals capable of pregnancy identify as women.
