Researchers at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) used the term in a 2018 study that found 27 US cities of more than 100,000 people had no publicly advertised abortion facility within 100 miles. Most were in the South and Midwest.
The Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ended the federal right to abortion. By mid-2026, 13 states enforced total abortion bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute, and many more banned it early in pregnancy. Much of the South is now one continuous abortion desert.
Distance is a burden that falls hardest on people with the least money and time. Traveling for care means paying for gas or flights, lodging and child care, and taking unpaid time off work. Black women, who are more likely to live in states with bans and face higher maternal mortality, bear a large share of the harm. Abortion funds and telehealth pills have partly filled the gap.