The increase to 15.8 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age from 14.5 in 2019 was the highest jump in the state’s abortion rate since 2013, according to state data. It marks Michigan’s highest abortion rate since 1993, although a portion of the increase is attributed to visitors from outside the state.

“We definitely saw a significant increase in the number of patients seeking abortion care,” said Ashia George, nurse manager at Scotsdale Women’s Center, an abortion clinic in Detroit.

“We saw an increase in both in-state and out-of-state. We’ve had several patients fly in from Texas for abortions.”

The biggest double-digit percentage increases in abortion rates for women age 15 to 44 years old in 2020 occurred in rural, more sparsely populated northern Michigan counties, many of which have higher poverty rates than the state average of nearly 9% .