In this infographic, the Guttmacher Institute highlights research showing how an increasing proportion of women who obtain abortion care in the United States are lower income. Guttmacher categorized women with incomes below the federal poverty level (FPL) as poor, and women with incomes at 100 to 199 percent of FPL as low income.
Overall, Guttmacher found that the proportion of women with incomes below FPL who obtained abortion care increased from 42 percent in 2008 to 49 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, according to the report, 26 percent of women who obtained abortion care in 2014 qualified as low income.
The report also noted that while the proportion of women seeking abortion care who did not have health insurance decreased from 34 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2014, such women were not necessarily able to use their insurance to cover their abortion care. The Hyde Amendment bars the use of federal Medicaid funding for most abortion care, and states vary in abortion coverage allowed through state-run Medicaid programs or through private insurance offered via state insurance marketplaces. Overall, according to the report, 53 percent of women who obtained abortion care in 2014 paid for the procedure out-of-pocket (Jerman et al., Guttmacher Institute report, May 2016).
