Report shows steady increase in abortions in states with bans

Since the end of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the number of women receiving abortions has increased steadily and consistently in nearly every state that has banned it, according to a new comprehensive analysis released Tuesday. 

The Society of Family Planning said in its quarterly “#WeCount” report that the increase was partly due to women traveling out of state, but also because of a rise in telehealth prescribing of abortion pills from states with shield laws that protect doctors who provide mail-order pills to patients in states with bans. 

For example, there were an average of 9,700 monthly telehealth abortions provided under shield laws in the second quarter of 2024, according to the report — a 5 percent increase over the first quarter. This makes up about half of all telehealth provisions of medication abortion nationally.

But abortion rights advocates said it’s important to note that the numbers can only show people who were able to access the care they need. There are still hundreds of thousands of people who live in states with bans who don’t have easy access to an out-of-state clinic, don’t have financial resources, or don’t even know telemedicine is an option. 

“Anytime we see an increase, we are very careful to not say ‘oh, now we’ve done it!’ because that underlying need is really elusive to be able to quantify,” said Jenny O’Donnell, senior director of research and evaluation at the Society of Family Planning.  

The society’s report has chronicled the impact of the quickly evolving abortion laws since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling ended the national right to abortion and allowed states to enforce strict bans or limitations. 

The report found that in-person abortion care made up about 80 percent of all abortions, which has been the hardest hit by abortion bans across the country.  

By the second quarter of 2024, telehealth access to medication abortion made up 20 percent of abortion care, driving some of the national increase in abortion volume. 

In the first six months of 2024, there were nearly 98,000 abortions a month — higher than the 2023 monthly average of 88,000 and the 2022 monthly average of 81,400. This includes in-person abortion care as well as telehealth access to medication abortion. 

“As abortion bans strip away access, the need for abortion care continues,” Alison Norris, a #WeCount co-chair and professor at the Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, said in a statement. “There is still an immense unmet need for abortion care across the country.” 

The report is also the first time #WeCount has been able to break down the number of abortions provided via telehealth under shield laws to residents of each state with an abortion ban. 

In the second half of 2023, an estimated 12,420 people in Texas obtained abortion medications from health care providers operating under shield laws. During the same period, an estimated 5,265 residents of Tennessee traveled out of state for care, and 1,820 obtained abortion medications from shield law providers.