More Women Choose Abortion Pills as States Crack Down

More Women Choose Abortion Pills as States Crack Down

The fall of Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago fundamentally changed when, how and where women get abortions. Medication abortions have become more common despite the elimination of federal protections for the procedure, new data show.

Medication abortion rose to account for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. in 2023, according to a report released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. In 2020, medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks of gestation, accounted for 53% of U.S. procedures.

Guttmacher’s report showed that the number and rate of abortions performed in the U.S. climbed in 2023 even with near-total bans on the procedure in more than a dozen states. Abortion clinics have added staff, hours and locations in states where abortion is legal. Advocacy groups have increased funding for traveling patients.

Guttmacher found more than 642,000 medication abortions in 2023 were performed through formal healthcare providers. The number of medication abortions is likely higher because the estimate doesn’t include self-managed abortions, when women seek abortion pills through community groups or abroad, according to Guttmacher.

Access to medication abortion has grown with policy changes including the expansion of telehealth abortion services. The Food and Drug Administration in 2021 relaxed restrictions on mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion, allowing it to be delivered by mail-order pharmacies.

The Supreme Court this month plans to hear oral arguments in a challenge to those and other relaxed restrictions. While the court battle is playing out, bricks-and-mortar pharmacies can seek certification to dispense the pill; CVS and Walgreens said earlier this month that their pharmacies would do so.

The number of abortions in the U.S. increased to about one million in 2023, according to Guttmacher. The rate was higher last year than any year since 2012 and the number was the highest since 2011, the group said.

The findings reflect how abortion providers and funders have adapted to shifting laws by increasing access in states where abortion remains legal and paying for women from out of state to get there.

“If people need healthcare,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Guttmacher’s director of federal policy, “they will find ways to get the healthcare they need.”

Women from other states make up more than half of patients in Kansas and New Mexico and more than one-third in Illinois and North Carolina, according to Guttmacher.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which operates in New Mexico, Colorado, southern Nevada and Wyoming, added staff, hours and a larger center. The regional organization has diverted funding from breast cancer screenings as well as birth control and educational programs to abortion.

“I’m proud that we’re in the place that we’re in that we can provide this care for patients traveling from states that have banned their healthcare, but it also puts such a strain on our ability to do all of our work,” said Adrienne Mansanares, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

States bordering ones with abortion bans and restrictions are receiving more out-of-state patients. Some women fly or drive many hours to reach clinics.

More abortions in these states aren’t only because of out-of-state patients, according to Guttmacher. More telehealth services, new protections for the procedure and financial aid have also contributed to higher abortion numbers, the group said.

Write to Jennifer Calfas at [email protected]