….Although almost every other state tracks abortion information — including how many people arrive from out of state — California is one of three that do not. The California Department of Public Health has not kept track of any abortion data since 1997. When CalMatters asked why, the agency did not provide an answer.

“Having a lack of information and data is sometimes an issue,” said Jessica Pinckney, executive director of ACCESS Reproductive Justice, which provides funding for those who can’t afford abortions.

“Every journalist and every legislator I’ve talked to in the past six months wants to know how many people are coming to California,” Pinckney said.

A recent brief from UCLA’s Center on Law, Reproductive Health, and Policy estimated that post-Roe, 26 states would ban all or nearly all abortions — prompting between 8,000 and 16,100 more people to travel to California seeking abortions each year.

Yet as of today, there’s no centralized system collecting information on how many Californians are obtaining abortions here. Individual clinics and hospitals in California know how many procedures they perform, but it’s hard to get the full picture on abortions and how much they cost, Pinckney said. State officials said the new Health Care Payments Database, which tracks insurance claims, should capture abortion procedures and medication, but the information likely won’t be available until the end of next year….

The only window into abortions is through Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income people, which covers roughly one-third of all Californians. Medi-Cal data suggest that the abortion rate has been dropping among enrollees since 2014. There are no numbers on procedures among those with private insurance, those who may have paid out of pocket or those from out of state….

The above comes from a June 27 story on laist.com.