Do multiple U.S. states allow abortions in all nine months of pregnancy? Viral posts online claim that there are several states with no gestational limits on abortion procedures.
“Reminder: 6 states allow abortion in all 9 months,” reads one Threads post. “Eight states don’t have any restrictions on abortion,” says another on X.
The posts are directionally correct, but both understate the number of U.S. states that have no gestational limits on abortion.
According to research by the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank focused on advancing reproductive rights, and KFF, a health policy nonprofit, as of 2024, nine states—plus the District of Columbia—currently place no gestational limits on abortion: Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.
Some of the states with no gestational limits on abortion passed statutory or constitutional protections for the procedure in the lead-up to the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, for example, signed legislation in early 2022 protecting abortion access in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs. The law included no gestational limits on abortion in the state.
Other states, like Minnesota and Michigan, passed measures protecting access to abortion after Roe was overturned. In January 2023, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill that imposed no restrictions or gestational limits on abortion, and in November 2022, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment establishing an individual right to make decisions about abortion. Michigan’s amendment allows the state to regulate abortion once a fetus has reached a point of viability—typically between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy—with exceptions to protect the life, physical health, or mental health of the mother. However, the state has not acted on its right to regulate post-viability abortions, and abortions are currently permitted at any point in pregnancy.
Two of the states with no gestational limits—Maryland and Colorado—will vote in November to pass constitutional amendments further reinforcing abortion rights.
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