How late you can have an abortion depends almost entirely on where you live. In the United States, 13 states ban abortion at virtually all stages of pregnancy, while others allow it up to 24 weeks or later. Globally, 12 weeks is the most common cutoff for elective abortion. The practical answer for any individual comes down to state law, the type of procedure, and gestational age.
State Laws Set the Cutoff
Twenty US states currently have either outright bans or early gestational limits on abortion. Thirteen of those states ban abortion throughout pregnancy, with narrow exceptions. Seven others restrict it between 6 and 12 weeks of gestation. The remaining states allow abortion later into pregnancy, with some setting limits around 22 to 24 weeks and a handful permitting it at any point with a clinician’s approval.
These laws changed dramatically after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Before that decision, abortion was broadly legal nationwide until viability (roughly 24 weeks). Now, the same pregnancy could be legally ended in one state and not in a neighboring one. If you’re trying to figure out your own options, your state’s current law is the single most important factor.
How Gestational Age Shapes the Procedure
Medication abortion, which uses two pills taken in sequence, is FDA-approved through 70 days of gestation (10 weeks from the first day of your last period). This is the most common method in early pregnancy and can be done via telehealth in many states. After 10 weeks, a procedural (surgical) abortion is the standard approach.
In the first trimester (up to 13 weeks), the procedure is straightforward and typically takes under 10 minutes in a clinic. Second-trimester procedures, from 14 to around 24 weeks, are more involved and require more time, sometimes spanning two days. The later the gestational age, the fewer clinics offer the service, even in states where it’s legal. After 21 weeks, only a small number of specialized providers in the country perform abortions, and costs increase significantly.
When Most Abortions Happen
The vast majority of abortions occur early. CDC surveillance data from 2022 shows that 78.6% of abortions were performed at 9 weeks or earlier, and 92.8% were performed by 13 weeks. Only 6.1% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks, and just 1.1% at 21 weeks or later.
Later abortions are rare for a reason. Most people who seek abortion do so as soon as they can. Those who end up needing care later in pregnancy often face specific circumstances: a serious fetal diagnosis that wasn’t detectable until an anatomy scan around 20 weeks, difficulty accessing care due to travel or cost, not realizing they were pregnant, or a change in health status. Late abortion is not a casual decision, and the data reflects that.
What “Viability” Means in Practice
Many state laws reference fetal viability as the cutoff for legal abortion. Medically, viability is not a fixed point. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists describes the “periviable period” as weeks 20 through 25 and 6 days. Survival rates during this window vary enormously: deliveries before 23 weeks have only a 5 to 6% survival rate, with nearly all survivors experiencing severe complications. At 24 weeks, survival ranges from 42% to 59%. At 25 weeks, it rises to 67% to 76%.
Viability depends on far more than gestational age alone. Fetal weight, sex, genetic factors, the circumstances of delivery, and whether a neonatal intensive care team is available all play a role. ACOG has stated that viability cannot be definitively predicted and has discouraged lawmakers from writing it into legislation, because it oversimplifies a complex medical reality. Still, many states use it as a legal threshold, typically placing it around 22 to 24 weeks.
Exceptions in Restrictive States
Nearly all states with bans include some form of exception, but the scope of those exceptions varies widely. The most common categories are: risk of death to the pregnant person, serious physical health risks, pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, and lethal fetal anomalies (conditions where the fetus would not survive birth or would die shortly after).
In practice, these exceptions are often narrow and difficult to use. Five states with bans have no health exception at all. Nine have no exception for rape or incest. Twelve have no exception for fatal fetal anomalies. Almost all states that do include a health exception limit it to physical health conditions, explicitly excluding mental or emotional health. Alabama is the only state with a ban that includes mental health within its broader health exception.
The Guttmacher Institute has noted that many of these exceptions contain vague, contradictory language and impose requirements that make them difficult to act on in real clinical situations. Physicians in restrictive states have reported delaying care while seeking legal guidance, even in emergencies.
How the US Compares Globally
Most countries that allow elective abortion set the limit at 12 weeks from the last menstrual period. This is the standard across much of Europe. Some countries, like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, allow abortion up to 24 weeks. Canada has no federal gestational limit, though access varies by province.
The US is unusual in how much the answer varies within its own borders. A person in one state may have access through 24 weeks or beyond, while someone a short drive away may face a near-total ban. This patchwork means that for many Americans, the practical answer to “how late can you have an abortion” is inseparable from the question of whether you can afford to travel.
Safety at Different Stages
Legal abortion is one of the safest procedures in medicine. The overall case-fatality rate from 2013 to 2020 was 0.45 deaths per 100,000 abortions. For context, that’s lower than the mortality risk of a colonoscopy or a tonsillectomy. In 2020, six women in the entire country died from complications of legal abortion.
Risk does increase with gestational age, which is one reason earlier access matters. About four out of five abortions happen at 9 weeks or before, when complication rates are at their lowest. First-trimester procedures carry very low rates of infection, bleeding, or other complications. Second-trimester procedures remain safe but carry modestly higher risk, and the gap widens further after 20 weeks. Even so, serious complications from later procedures performed by experienced providers are uncommon.