Dozens of minors – including children under 11 – left Texas for abortions in 2023

Texas’ abortion ban does not include exceptions for rape or incest.

By Sarah AschJanuary 28, 2025 11:53 am,

As Texas’ near-total abortion ban went into effect in 2023, there was a fair amount of reporting about women traveling out of state to receive the procedure. These stories usually focused on adults who chose to travel to New Mexico or beyond to end their pregnancies.

But according to the latest state data available, a number of minors are leaving the state for abortions – and that number rose in 2023 compared to previous years.

Taylor Goldenstein, who reports on state politics for the Houston Chronicle, said 105 minors 17 or under left Texas for abortions that we know of in 2023.

“It was mostly 16 or 17 year olds — about 69 [of the 105],”  Goldenstein said. “But there were some in the youngest age category, which is 11 and under. There were six” kids in that category.

However, Goldenstein said these numbers are likely an undercount.

“We only have the data for the first half of 2023. I have not heard back from the state on why or when we might get [the rest of] that data,” she said. “And the other reason why is because this is from a national data exchange that is voluntary. So we’re not getting data from every state because every state chooses whether to participate.”

Texas’ ban on abortion does not make exceptions for rape and incest, which Goldenstein said is why many of these patients have to go out of state despite being under the age of legal consent.

“Texas’ age of consent is 17. There’s some caveats there, for teenagers who are close in age and their activity is consensual, that might not be an assault situation,” she said. “But the child welfare advocates I spoke to said these are for the most part assault-related rape or incest-related because these children just cannot consent.”

The Texas law is in line with a national trend toward anti-abortion advocates pushing for laws with no exceptions.

“On the anti-abortion side, we’ve seen this trend nationally, the groups are moving toward no exceptions. They feel it’s more consistent in their viewpoint and their thought process is that an abortion is an act of violence,” Goldenstein said. “So you’ll be treating an assault or an act of violence with more violence, which they don’t think is the way.

“And on the opposite side, the pro-abortion rights groups say that these children are able to make their own decisions and should be able to choose what they want to do with their bodies. And they should not be forced to have to go through all the things they have to go through to go out of state to get necessary medical care.”

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Abortion rights groups also highlight the additional trauma young patients may face when leaving the state for an abortion.

“I spoke with some sexual assault nonprofits and nonprofits who help minors get out of state if they need to. And they said that these children are often already going through something traumatic,” Goldenstein said. “For them, it adds another layer of trauma to have to deal with figuring out how to afford an abortion and getting out of state and all of the things that go along with missing school and all of that. So it’s very difficult on them.”

There are also added medical complications when younger patients get pregnant, Goldenstein said.

“The doctors I spoke to said that children typically see more complications during pregnancy than adult women,” she said. “So that might mean, you know, the higher risk of premature delivery or preeclampsia, which is dangerously high blood pressure. And on top of that, you know, the doctors told me just because a child can reach puberty and can become pregnant doesn’t mean that their success rate in actually carrying that pregnancy to term will be just as high as an adult.”

In terms of what this data means for the future of Texas’ abortion laws, Goldenstein said it’s too early to tell.

“It’s yet to be seen, still up in the air. But I will say that the lieutenant governor over the weekend made some waves when he said that the emergency exception language needs clarification,” she said. “He didn’t talk about any other exceptions. That’s not necessarily on the table. But that’s a pretty big change to hear from the lieutenant governor that at least some parts of the abortion bans could use adjustment.”

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