Monthly abortions continue to trend up in the US in 2024, new report shows
There were an average of 98,990 abortions each month in the first three months of 2024, according to the latest data from #WeCount, a research project from the Society of Family Planning. That’s about 14% higher than the average from the same period last year, or about 12,000 more abortions each month.
There are seasonal patterns and some month-to-month fluctuation in abortion rates, but in January, monthly abortions topped 100,000 for the first time since #WeCount started tracking about two years ago.
“I am expecting the number to plateau at some point. But with each report, we see the numbers increase, so we’re not at that plateau just yet,” said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, co-chair of #WeCount and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. “There continues to be a lot of unmet need that is being met in various ways.”
Much of the increase has been driven by a surge in medication abortions, especially those provided through telehealth. When #WeCount started collecting data from abortion providers in April 2022, about 4% of all abortions were medication abortions provided through telehealth. The latest report shows that 20% of all abortions in March 2024 were telehealth abortions.
Medication abortion is a method by which someone ends their pregnancy by taking two drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — rather than having a surgical procedure. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the drugs for abortion use more than two decades ago, and the regimen is approved for use up to 10 weeks gestation. Research has long found that medication abortion is safe and effective, and recent studies have shown that to be true even when the patient gets the medicine through a telehealth appointment.
It’s not entirely clear whether medication abortion provided through telehealth are increasing because access has improved or because there’s growing awareness of and preference for this option, Upadhyay said. But it is clear that telehealth abortions have become an important option amid a changing and increasingly restrictive abortion landscape.
A rise in telehealth abortions can help keep schedules more openfor people who need in-person care, Upadhyay said. The new report shows that the number of in-person abortions in the first three months of 2024 was about the same as it was in the first three months of 2023, while telehealth abortions rose 28%.
Telehealth abortion rates vary by state but tend to be less common in states that had the least restrictions. In the first quarter of 2024, about 10% of abortions in New Mexico and Illinois and only 7% in New York were telehealth abortions, according to the new report. Meanwhile, more than half of all abortions in Wyoming were telehealth abortions; judges have recently blocked legislative attempts to ban abortion – and medication abortion, specifically – in the state.
“Telehealth providers are really going through tremendous efforts to offer this care at very low or no cost to patients,” Upadhyay said. “As long as we keep seeing more states increasing restrictions, I think we will continue to see the abortion volume grow as people learn about telehealth.”
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In states where abortion is restricted, abortions provided under shield laws have also become more common. Shield laws offer some legal protections for providers who practice in some states where abortion remains legal to prescribe medication abortion drugs via telehealth to people living in states with bans or restrictions.
Nearly a third of all telehealth abortions in the first three months of 2024 were provided under shield laws; an average of 6,700 each month were for people living in states with total abortion bans or six-week bans, and nearly 2,500 were for people living in states with restrictions on telehealth abortion.
“While the volume of abortions has increased, we know that this isn’t the full story,” Dr. Alison Norris, co-chair of #WeCount and professor at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, said in a statement. “Even as we see the increase in abortion volume nationally, the burden on an individual living in a state with an abortion ban is enormous, especially if they need in-person abortion care.”
Abortions have all but ceased in the 14 states that have enacted bans since the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe. v. Wade, preventing nearly 10,000 abortions from occurring in-person in those states each month, according to estimates from the new report.
The increasing use of telehealth abortions could potentially alleviate strain on in-person clinics, as telehealth abortions saw a 28% increase while in-person abortions remained stable. Moreover, the safety and effectiveness of medication abortions through telehealth have been consistently proven in numerous studies over the years.
