The woman boarded a plane in Wisconsin this summer, pregnant and alone.

She hadn’t planned for another baby and couldn’t afford one. Her relationship with her partner had frayed, she said, and she feared becoming homeless.

“I was super depressed. I was so broke with no job, though I must have sent out 100 applications,” said the 29-year-old woman who declined to be named to protect her safety. She never told her family that she flew to Maryland for an abortion.

Thousands of people a year make such a trip to the state for abortions, with a brief spike to 8,210 in the year after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, which left the right to an abortion up to individual states.

The numbers have since leveled off, with 2,770 in the first six months of this year, according to estimates from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and abortion rights advocacy group.

But many of those who do come can’t manage the trip or pay for the abortion on their own. The number asking for help has soared, according to Abortion Fund of Maryland officials.

Abortion Fund of Maryland, which provides logistical and financial assistance to women seeking to end their pregnancies, reported a nearly 24% increase in the number of calls this year to the private nonprofit compared to last year. Out-of-state residents now make up about 40% of the group’s clients.

The extra requests, combined with a decline in donations, have stretched the resources of the fund, officials said. They say many more women could turn to the Democratic-led state as abortion rights are threatened nationwide under the Trump administration through government funding cuts to clinics, restrictions on providers and a review that could limit access to a common mail-order drug used to terminate pregnancies.

“It’s the challenge we’re running into,” said Lynn McCann-Yeh, the fund’s co-executive director. “Demand is increasing, and resources are not.”

To reflect its broadening mission, the Abortion Fund of Maryland recently rebranded, changing its name from the Baltimore Abortion Fund.

The group spends about $780,000 a year and expects to assist up to 2,500 people seeking abortions this year. To stay within the budget, officials said, they have already reduced the hours during which the fund accepts the calls for help.

In addition to fundraising from individuals and foundations, the staff of seven arranges flights, transportation and meals for the travelers. Sometimes, fund officials will cover other costs, including child care for children at home and the travel costs of a companion.

Providing wraparound support for these women — some of whom may be leaving their home state for the first time — is essential, fund officials said.

“We’re meeting a need,” said Porsha Pinder, a co-executive director of the fund. “We believe there shouldn’t be this need.”

If the fund helps a woman in her own state, the cost can be as little as $165 for a telehealth visit with a Maryland provider and medication to end a pregnancy at home. That’s the method now used by 63% of people, and likely a reason the number of in-person trips have declined nationally and in the state, according to Guttmacher.

At the other end are abortions performed later in pregnancy, which Maryland and eight other states allow. Abortions after 22 weeks are rare, accounting for about 1% of abortions nationwide, but can cost up to $20,000. It’s the kind the Wisconsin woman sought, and covering the high cost usually means relying on other national and state funds, according to the Maryland fund.

Abortion in Maryland has broad public support, including for embedded protections in the state constitution and a law aimed at expanding access by allowing nondoctors to perform abortions. Those measures, however, have disappointed abortion opponents.

“It’s lamentable that, because of its permissible abortion regime, Maryland is becoming better known for abortions than for crabs and the Orioles. Unborn life is worth protecting,” Jeff Trimbath, president of the nonprofit Maryland Family Institute, said in a statement.

He said the group now supports legislation or review of any law that “protects women from harm and protects unborn children from the profit-driven abortion industry.”

The woman from Wisconsin said her decision this summer wasn’t simple.

She was already a mother and said she only discovered she was pregnant after having pain and finally getting an appointment with a doctor more than a month later. Any bit of joy she said she felt evaporated once she told her longtime partner and father of her other children. He said he wouldn’t help, she said, adding that her family wasn’t supportive, either.

There were other factors that led to significant delays.

She weighed having the baby and turned to what’s known as a crisis pregnancy center run by a religious group that she knew opposed abortions. She said she thought they’d steer her to prenatal care and supplies.

Now, she said she believes they kept postponing her appointment as a tactic to push her past Wisconsin’s 22-week abortion limit.

By the time she resolved to have an abortion, she was indeed several weeks beyond the deadline. A clinic pointed her to Maryland, which told her about the fund.

It took Maryland’s fund plus four other similar funds to cover her travel and medical costs, which swelled to more than $18,000.

After the procedure, she said, her life has taken a turn for the better. She got a job. Her relationship has improved, and she described herself as engaged with her children.

“People may think having an abortion is shameful. I grew up super-Catholic. I still carry a little bit of guilt,” she said, adding, “Life is proving it was the right choice.”

At the Maryland fund, one staffer who responds to callers from her home, but asked not to be named out of concern for her own safety, said the women on the other end of the line express a range of emotions. But often, she said, they let her know they are appreciative as she runs through her questionnaire like a seasoned travel agent.

“What is the nearest airport you can fly out of?

“Will you be traveling alone?

“We offer rides through Lyft, can I send you a link?”

On a recent morning, the staffer offered a calm “no worries” to a woman who repeatedly struggled to provide some answers about logistics. Fund officials say they don’t ask any questions about why a woman wants an abortion, however, so no one feels judged about the decision.

Back at the office, the fund’s leaders fretted about their increasingly limited budget, which they dole out in weekly allotments. Would the money make it until Friday to be able to keep returning calls?

“People see Maryland as a safe haven,” said Pinder. “But none of this is assured.”