Women residing in states that have imposed abortion bans continued to seek the procedure in the latter half of 2023 at rates comparable to those prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as detailed in a report released recently.
The report, known as #WeCount and produced by the Society of Family Planning, which advocates for abortion rights, indicates that women have been traveling out of state or utilizing methods such as having abortion pills sent to them. An increase in telehealth services was noted too, as healthcare providers in states with protective legislation began offering virtual appointments to prescribe abortion medications.
Ushma Upadhyay, a public health social scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, and co-chair of the #WeCount survey stated, “Abortion bans are not eliminating the demand for abortion.” She emphasized that individuals are finding ways to overcome the obstacles to access the care they need.
The methodology of the #WeCount report began just before the collapse of Roe v. Wade and collects monthly data from abortion providers nationwide, thus providing a clearer picture of current abortion trends. Some of the collected data is estimated, but the report is able to disseminate findings more quickly than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose latest annual report dates back to 2021.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which allowed states to impose their own abortion laws, the report has noted significant changes in abortion access and numbers. For states where total bans have been enacted, the number of abortions dropped to nearly zero, with significant declines in states where bans come into effect at six weeks into pregnancy, a crucial period during which many women may not yet be aware of their pregnancy.
Despite the restrictions, the overall number of abortions nationally has remained stable or has increased slightly since the ruling. The report estimates that roughly 99,000 abortions were performed each month in the first half of 2024, compared to around 81,000 per month from April to December 2022, and 88,000 in 2023.
Telehealth has played a significant role in this trend, particularly after Democratic-led states enacted legislation to protect providers from legal repercussions. In April 2022, approximately one in twenty-five abortions were conducted through telehealth, and by June 2024, that figure has risen to one in five.
This report marks the first occasion that #WeCount provided state-level data concerning prescriptions for abortion pills. Currently, about half of the prescriptions issued through telehealth are sent to women in states with bans or strict regulations governing telehealth abortion services.
In the latter part of last year alone, around 2,800 women in Texas received abortion pills via mail each month, while over 1,500 women in Mississippi and nearly 800 in Missouri did the same.
According to additional information from the Guttmacher Institute, women in states with restrictive abortion laws still largely depend on traveling to obtain the procedure. The analysis combined data from both the #WeCount survey and Guttmacher’s earlier records from 2020, revealing that women in banned states were securing abortions in numbers comparable to those of 2020. However, this data does not factor in prescriptions acquired from outside the formal medical framework.
For instance, women in West Virginia sought nearly 220 abortions each month during the second half of 2023, mostly through traveling, which is an increase from roughly 140 monthly in 2020. In Louisiana, the figures remained stable with about 700 abortions a month from July to December in 2023, closely mirroring the count from 2020. However, Oklahoma witnessed a decline, with monthly abortions decreasing to fewer than 470 from approximately 690 in 2020.
Telehealth providers have emerged rapidly in response to the increased demand. One significant provider, the Massachusetts Abortion Access Project, co-founded by Angel Foster, reported that they catered to around 500 patients monthly, predominantly from states with bans, since launching in September 2023.
The organization charged $250 per session but allowed patients who could not afford the price to pay less. As of this month, with grant support covering their operational expenses, they are trialing a new model that sets the cost at $5, with the option for patients to pay more if they are able. Foster noted that they expect to provide between 1,500 to 2,000 abortion services monthly under this new approach.
Foster condemned the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision, describing it as “a human rights and social justice catastrophe,” though she observed some irony in the current climate where access to abortion care has become more readily available and affordable in certain locations than before.
There have so far been no significant legal challenges to protective measures for these telehealth services, although opponents have attempted to remove one of the primary abortion medications from circulation. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled to maintain access to the drug mifepristone while also determining that a group of anti-abortion doctors and organizations lacked the legal standing to contest its federal approval from 2000.
Recently, three states sought judicial permission to initiate a lawsuit aimed at reversing federal decisions that enhanced access to the pill, including via telehealth avenues.