How Many Months to Get an Abortion: State Limits and Exceptions

How many months you can get an abortion depends entirely on the state you’re in. Nine states and Washington, D.C. set no gestational limit at all. Thirteen states ban abortion almost entirely from conception. Everywhere in between, cutoffs run from roughly six weeks (about a month and a half of pregnancy) to around 24 weeks (about six months), measured from the first day of your last menstrual period.¹ Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision returned this question to the states, there is no single national answer, and the rules keep changing.²

How Pregnancy Weeks Are Counted

Every state law that sets a gestational limit measures pregnancy from the first day of your last menstrual period, not from conception.³ That counting method starts about two weeks before conception actually happens, so by the time you miss your first period you are already considered four weeks pregnant. Doctors typically confirm the exact number using ultrasound.

This matters most in states with early cutoffs. A six-week limit leaves roughly two weeks after a missed period to recognize the pregnancy, decide, and get to a clinic.

State Gestational Limits, Tier by Tier

As of early 2026, state laws fall into roughly five groups. Movement between them is constant as courts block or reinstate statutes, so treat any snapshot as a starting point rather than the final word.

Total or near-total bans, 13 states. Abortion is illegal from conception or very early in pregnancy, with narrow exceptions. Most of these took effect through trigger laws written to activate after Dobbs or through legislation passed since.¹
Early gestational limits of six to 12 weeks, 6 states. First-trimester cutoffs. A six-week limit is especially restrictive because many people do not yet know they are pregnant at that point.¹
Mid-to-late limits of 15 to 22 weeks, 4 states. More time than the early tier, but access still ends well before viability.
Viability limits, roughly 24 weeks, about 19 states. Viability is the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb with medical support, generally estimated around 24 weeks though it varies by circumstance.⁴
No gestational limit, 9 states and D.C. These jurisdictions do not restrict abortion based on how far along the pregnancy is.⁵

Before scheduling anything, verify the current rule for your specific state. A ban that is in effect today may be blocked by a court next month, and the reverse is equally common.

Medication Abortion Ends at 10 Weeks

Medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol is FDA-approved through 10 weeks of pregnancy, meaning 70 days from the first day of your last period.⁶ This is a medical ceiling that applies regardless of state law. Even in a state with no gestational limit, the pill regimen is only an option during the first two and a half months. Past 10 weeks, a procedural abortion becomes the route.

Where abortion is legal, medication abortion is generally available either through an in-person clinic visit or through telehealth, where a provider prescribes the pills and mails them. At least nine states explicitly ban telehealth prescribing of abortion medication or the mailing of abortion pills. Eight states have shield laws that protect providers who mail pills to patients in ban states, and roughly half of telehealth abortions in mid-2025 involved prescriptions sent across state lines this way.⁷ The legal risks for patients who receive pills this way remain unsettled and vary by state, so speak with a legal helpline before relying on it.

Exceptions That Can Extend a Limit

Nearly every state with a ban or early limit includes exceptions that in theory allow abortion past the general cutoff. In practice, the scope is narrow and the process of qualifying is often difficult.

Life of the Pregnant Person

Every currently effective ban includes some form of exception when continuing the pregnancy would result in the death of the pregnant person.⁸ How imminent the threat must be is often unclear, and hospitals worried about criminal liability sometimes wait until a patient’s condition deteriorates to an unambiguous emergency.

Health of the Pregnant Person

Most ban states include a health exception, but six do not.⁹ Definitions vary. Some states limit the exception to severe, irreversible physical harm; others include conditions that could cause substantial impairment to major bodily functions. Mental health is rarely a qualifying condition in ban states.

Fatal Fetal Anomalies

Eleven states with bans have no exception at all for fatal fetal anomalies.⁹ Where an exception does exist, definitions are narrow: some require the condition to be lethal within days of birth, others set a life-expectancy threshold of a few months.⁸

Rape and Incest

Eight states with bans or early limits have no exception for rape or incest.⁹ Among states that do have them, many require a report to law enforcement before the exception applies, and the exception often carries its own gestational cutoff, so the window can close quickly.

Waiting Periods and Rules for Minors Can Shorten Your Window

Even after you have decided, state-imposed delays can push an appointment out by a week or more. Twenty-two states require a waiting period between state-directed counseling and the procedure itself. The most common wait is 24 hours, but several states impose 48 or 72. Thirteen states require the counseling to happen in person, meaning two separate clinic trips.¹⁰ If you are already close to the legal cutoff, that delay alone can push you past it.

If you are under 18, 38 states require some form of parental involvement: 21 require consent, 10 require notification, and 7 require both. Thirty-seven states offer judicial bypass, which lets a minor ask a judge to waive the requirement, typically by showing either maturity to decide independently or that involving a parent would not be in her best interest.¹¹ The court process takes time, which is important to plan around if a gestational limit is close.

Emergency Care Is Protected in Every State

One federal protection applies everywhere, including states with total bans. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires any hospital that accepts Medicare funding to screen and stabilize patients with an emergency medical condition, regardless of state abortion restrictions.¹² If a pregnancy complication qualifies as an emergency and abortion is the necessary stabilizing treatment, the hospital is federally required to provide it or transfer you to a facility that can.

The practical reach of this rule is contested. Federal guidance issued in 2022 clarifying that EMTALA can require emergency abortion care was rescinded by the Department of Health and Human Services in June 2025, and litigation continues in multiple states over whether state bans or the federal emergency-care mandate takes priority. The right to stabilizing care remains, but how quickly hospitals act on it varies with the local legal climate.

If You Are Past Your State’s Limit

Two paths remain when your state’s cutoff has passed: traveling to a state with broader access, or, if you are still within 10 weeks, obtaining medication abortion through a telehealth shield-law provider.

No federal law currently prohibits crossing state lines for abortion care. Several states have explored legislation targeting people who travel or those who help them, but no such law has been successfully enforced as of early 2026.¹³ Shield-law states generally extend protections to patients traveling from restrictive states and to the people who help them.

If you plan to travel, read the destination state’s rules the same way you read your own: the gestational limit, any waiting period, whether counseling must be in person, and any parental involvement rules if you are a minor. All of these affect how many days you’ll need to be there and how far along you can still be when you arrive.

Where to Check Current Rules and Get Help

Because state laws shift frequently, verify the current rule in your state before making decisions or travel plans. The KFF Abortion in the U.S. Dashboard tracks each state’s gestational limit, exceptions, waiting period, and other restrictions and updates regularly. The Guttmacher Institute maintains parallel state-by-state trackers.

For practical help, the National Network of Abortion Funds connects people with local and national funds that cover the cost of care, travel, lodging, and childcare.¹⁴ The Repro Legal Helpline offers free, confidential legal information about your rights and options, including questions about self-managed abortion. The National Abortion Federation’s hotline helps with finding verified clinics and arranging financial assistance.

1
KFF. Abortion in the United States Dashboard
2
Legal Information Institute. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)
3
National Library of Medicine. Gestational Age: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
4
KFF State Health Facts. Abortion Policy: Gestational Limits and Exceptions
5
Guttmacher Institute. State Bans on Abortion Throughout Pregnancy
6
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Mifepristone for Medical Termination of Pregnancy Through Ten Weeks Gestation
7
KFF. The Intersection of State and Federal Policies on Access to Medication Abortion Via Telehealth After Dobbs
8
KFF. A Review of Exceptions in State Abortion Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services
9
KFF. Policy Tracker: Exceptions to State Abortion Bans and Early Gestational Limits
10
Guttmacher Institute. Counseling and Waiting Period Requirements for Abortion
11
Guttmacher Institute. Minors’ Access to Abortion Care
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1395dd – Examination and Treatment for Emergency Medical Conditions and Women in Labor
13
Guttmacher Institute. Act on the Evidence: Policy Solutions to Protect and Advance Abortion and Contraception Access in the United States
14
National Network of Abortion Funds. Need an Abortion?