Latest news with #MonthlyAbortionProvisionStudy
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Study: NC sees rise of out-of-state abortion patients
CHARLOTTE, N.C. () – Newly released data from the Guttmacher Institute shows a growing number of people seeking abortions in North Carolina are coming from out of state amid growing restrictions in neighboring states. The pro-abortion rights group released its Monthly Abortion Provision Study, which shows the total number of abortions in the United States remained mostly unchanged from 2023 to 2024, rising less than 1%. It also found the proportion of people traveling across state lines to get a medical or surgical abortion decreased slightly from 16% to 15%. However, the proportion of people traveling to North Carolina increased. Data from licensed clinicians reveals that about 36%, or 16,700, of abortions in 2024 came from out of state, the majority of which came from South Carolina and Georgia. Charlotte mother charged with felony child abuse after 8-year-old found naked, injured: Documents That nearly doubles the figure from 2020, when approximately 17% of abortions were for out-of-state patients. States like Kansas, New Mexico, Illinois and Virginia saw similar increases. Data analysts in neighboring states with stricter constraints account for part of the rise in statistics. In mid-2023, North Carolina lawmakers instituted a 72-hour waiting period between an initial, in-person, required counseling appointment and the procedure. State legislators in and General Assemblies introduced bills during the session to impose further restrictions on abortions. North Carolina's HB804 aims to make abortion illegal after conception except if the mother's life is at risk, with no exceptions for rape or incest. South Carolina's H3457 would also ban the procedure at conception with few exceptions. Both bills are still going through the committee process and are unlikely to pass before the end of the current session. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Abortions Keep Increasing in the U.S., Data Show
Faith Halstead chants along with other protesters and activists near the Florida State Capitol where Florida State Senators voted to pass a proposed six-week abortion ban in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 3, 2023. Credit - The Washington Post—Getty Images The number of abortions provided in most of the U.S. increased slightly in 2024 from the year before, according to new data released on April 15. The research was conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, which studies and supports sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organization uses both a statistical model and survey responses from providers to estimate the number of abortions provided by clinicians in states without near-total bans for its Monthly Abortion Provision Study. The data released on April 15 show that nearly 1,038,100 abortions were provided in 2024 across all states without near-total bans—a less than 1% increase from 2023 to 2024. While that number is relatively steady compared to the year before, researchers noted that the finding 'masked substantial variability across individual states,' with some states experiencing significant decreases and others seeing notable increases. For instance, there were roughly 12,100 fewer abortions provided in Florida in 2024 than in 2023, which researchers attributed to the state implementing a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a policy that went into effect in May 2024. Similarly, South Carolina provided about 3,500 fewer abortions in 2024 than in 2023. Researchers attributed this to the state's six-week ban, which was upheld by the state Supreme Court in August 2023. At the same time, researchers found that the number of abortions provided in Wisconsin increased from about 1,300 in 2023 to about 6,100 in 2024—an increase of 388%. Abortion access in the state became largely unavailable after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 until late 2023, when a Wisconsin judge ruled that an 1849 law that had been interpreted as a ban didn't make abortion illegal. Arizona, California, Kansas, Ohio, and Virginia also saw significant increases in the number of abortions provided in 2024 compared to the year before. 'What happens in one state affects what happens in other states,' says Isaac Maddow-Zimet, data scientist at the Guttmacher Institute and the project lead for the Monthly Abortion Provision Study. He notes that while Florida saw a sharp decline in the number of abortions provided between 2023 and 2024, Virginia, which allows abortions until about 26 weeks of pregnancy, saw a significant increase. In part, he says, that's because people in Florida 'were traveling to Virginia to access care.' The data also reveal that about 155,100 people traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024, accounting for about 15% of all abortions provided in states without near-total bans. That's a slight decrease from 2023, when roughly 169,700 people crossed state lines, representing about 16% of abortions in states without near-total bans. Still, the number of people who traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024 is nearly double the number who did so in 2020, before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, according to Maddow-Zimet. '[Travel is] still a major way that people are accessing care, despite the many barriers that accompany it, and it's still extremely elevated compared to historical patterns,' he says. It's not yet clear why travel for abortion declined slightly from 2023 to 2024, but he speculates that more patients in states with near-total abortion bans may be receiving abortion pills in the mail via telehealth rather than having to travel across state lines. Another explanation, he says, could be dwindling resources to support travel. Read More: What Are Abortion Shield Laws? 'Abortion funds saw big increases in donations immediately post-Dobbs, and then really saw that drop off, and they've only had to deal with an increasing amount of need,' Maddow-Zimet says. Ushma Upadhyay, a public health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco who was not involved in the new research, says that the slight increase in abortions in 2024 is consistent with data from other sources (including WeCount, an abortion tracking effort that she co-chairs.) While a limitation of the Guttmacher Institute's research is that it doesn't include data from states with near-total abortion bans, she says, it illustrates trends in out-of-state travel for abortion care. 'That's a huge contribution to our understanding of what's happening with abortion access right now,' Upadhyay says. Familiar states were at the top when it came to the number of abortions provided to out-of-state residents: Illinois, North Carolina, Kansas, and New Mexico. Illinois, which allows abortion until fetal viability, provided the highest number of abortions to out-of-state residents in 2024, at about 35,000 abortions, which accounted for 39% of all abortions provided in the state. Meanwhile, Kansas, which allows abortion until about 22 weeks of pregnancy, provided roughly 16,100 abortions to out-of-state residents, but that accounted for the majority of abortions provided in the state—71%. That's in part due to their geographical proximity to states that have near-total bans, as well as efforts among abortion providers and some state governments to make abortion more accessible, according to Maddow-Zimet. Illinois, for instance, is 'the closest point of access' for many people living in Southern states that have near-total abortion bans and are surrounded by states with restrictive policies, he says. Similarly, Maddow-Zimet says that New Mexico (which doesn't have a gestational limit on abortion) and Kansas see many patients from Texas, which has banned abortion in nearly all situations. North Carolina is also the closest state for many people living in states with restrictive abortion laws, such as Florida. North Carolina has banned abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and has a 72-hour waiting period to get an abortion. 'That means that you have to stay multiple days or might have to travel twice, and so it's really remarkable that people are still traveling to North Carolina to access care,' Maddow-Zimet says. 'It speaks to the amount of need there is.' The number of abortions in states without near-total bans that were provided by online-only clinics increased from 10% in 2023 to 14% in 2024, though the researchers note that the national number is likely even higher. Upadhyay says she thinks this is a trend that will likely continue as people learn more about medication abortion, which can be prescribed via telehealth. Previous research from the Guttmacher Institute has found that medication abortion is the most common method of abortion in the U.S. Maddow-Zimet says 2024 was a year that saw significant changes in state abortion laws—both to expand and restrict access to care. 'There's really a bifurcated policy landscape where we have a lot of efforts on one side to increase access to care,' he says, and, on the other, 'an enormous amount of effort to make care more and more difficult to access.' 'We absolutely see those trends continuing,' he says. Contact us at letters@
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers estimate 1 in 10 abortions provided by online-only clinics one year after Roe
Demonstrators gathered in front of the Supreme Court as justices heard arguments in March about medication abortion, the most common method in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (Photo by Anna) In the first year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an estimated 1 in 10 abortions were provided by online-only clinics, according to new data released Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that researches reproductive health and advocates for abortion access. Guttmacher's Monthly Abortion Provision Study for the first time shows state-level estimates of the proportions of abortions provided via medication and by online-only clinics. Researchers found that in the majority of states without total abortion bans, most people are terminating with abortion pills. The data build on a previous finding that 63% of all clinician-provided abortions in the U.S. in 2023 were through medication. 'We're publishing these data at a time in which medication abortion is under threat from many angles, particularly medication abortion provision via telemedicine, and we're finding that this is a really key pathway to abortion access for people all around the country,' said Isabel DoCampo, a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute, who co-authored the data analysis. Despite its widespread use and high safety record, medication abortion could soon become much harder to access if the Trump administration — in line with the GOP blueprint Project 2025 — tries to ban telemedicine abortion or prevent the mailing of abortion pills, which are also used to treat miscarriages and other health conditions. There is also an ongoing federal lawsuit over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, the first in a two-drug abortion regimen. In a recent development, GenBioPro, the country's largest manufacturer of abortion pills, joined the lawsuit as a defendant. The Monthly Abortion Provision Study estimates the number of abortions provided by clinicians in states without total abortion bans between January 2023 and November 2024, based on data collected from abortion providers and using a statistical model. It defines medication abortion as either being 'prescribed at an in-person clinic visit, or via telemedicine from a brick-and-mortar or online-only clinic.' Guttmacher excluded from its study self-managed abortions or telemedicine abortion in states with total abortion bans, though online medication abortion is available to people living in states with abortion bans. The states excluded were: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. Data about online-only clinics were unavailable for states that restricted telemedicine in 2023. 'Our estimates of medication abortion provision are likely an undercount,' DoCampo said. Wyoming had the highest estimated proportion of medication abortion (95% of all abortions) and abortions via online-only clinics (60%), while the District of Columbia had the lowest proportion of medication abortions, at 44%, and also via online-only clinics (7%). Other states with high proportions of medication abortion include: Montana (84%), Georgia (83%), Nebraska (83%), Vermont (81%) and Delaware (77%), with lower proportions in Ohio (46%), Florida (55%), Massachusetts (57%), Michigan (58%), New York (58%). Iowa had the second-highest proportion of online-only clinics (29%), followed by Delaware (28%), Nevada (24%), Colorado (22%), and Minnesota (21%). DoCampo said state differences in proportions of medication abortions and online-only clinic usage can't be attributed to any one thing, but to a variety of factors, including a state's abortion laws, population and clinic density, telemedicine availability, and insurance reimbursement rates for medication versus procedural abortions. Wyoming — with its low population density, few clinics and (at the time of the study) restrictive abortion policies — was high on the list of states reporting more medication abortions. But so was Delaware, which is much more urban and has a higher density of clinics and fewer restrictions. Meanwhile, Ohio, which is densely populated, has few clinics and has a mix of restrictive and protective abortion policies, had the lowest state proportion of medication abortion, and did not have data for online-only clinics. 'It's really interesting to see diverse environments with similar proportions of medication abortion provision,' DoCampo said. She noted the data do not reflect the preferences of all abortion seekers. 'Medication abortion, even though it does represent the majority of abortions in most U.S. states without total bans, might not be the preferred abortion method for folks,' DoCampo said. 'Black individuals and individuals who are below the federal poverty line often tend to prefer procedural abortion to medication abortion.' But in many states, medication abortion has become the most available method. Guttmacher data published in 2024 found a 5% nationwide decline in brick-and-mortar clinics that provide procedural abortions.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Medication Abortion Is Still the Most Common Type
An abortion rights activist holds a box of mifepristone during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Credit - Drew Angerer—AFP/Getty Image New data reveal that the majority of abortions that were provided in most states in 2023 were medication abortions—a pattern that reproductive health experts say underscores the need to protect access to abortion pills. The Guttmacher Institute, which researches and supports sexual and reproductive health and rights, released on Feb. 27 an analysis of state-level data on medication abortion in 2023. Guttmacher researchers had previously found that medication abortions accounted for 63% of all abortions provided by clinicians in 2023 in states without the most restrictive policies—most states, in other words—and the data released on Thursday expanded on that finding by breaking that number down by state. A full 95% of abortions performed in Wyoming were medication abortions, and 84% of abortions in Montana were. Lowest were Washington, D.C., at 44%, and Ohio, at 46%, according to the report. Researchers also looked at how women were receiving medication abortion: whether through prescriptions from in-person clinics or via telemedicine. In states without near-total abortion bans or bans on telemedicine provision, about 10% of abortions in 2023 were provided by online-only clinics, ranging from 7% in states like New York and California to as high as 60% in Wyoming. 'What these data are telling us is that medication abortion is a critical option for folks in most states without total abortion bans, and we're also seeing that in some states, telemedicine is playing a pretty major role,' says Isabel DoCampo, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute and one of the lead authors of the analysis. 'What this communicates is that lawmakers shouldn't support efforts to curtail medication abortion or telemedicine access for medication abortion, and that these options need to be expanded. Medication abortion is an option with high demand, with high need in most states without total abortion bans, and access to medication abortion via any means shouldn't be restricted.' The two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol is the most common medication abortion method that U.S. providers offer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone to be used for abortions more than 20 years ago, and years of research have found the drug to be both safe and effective. But recently, mifepristone has faced attacks from anti-abortion activists and some politicians, including through court challenges. Read More: How the Biden Administration Protected Abortion Pill Access—and What Trump Could Do Next The analysis published on Thursday is part of the Guttmacher Institute's Monthly Abortion Provision Study, an ongoing project that shares monthly estimates of abortions provided by clinicians in states without near-total bans. Researchers survey providers and use a statistical model to estimate data. The project started when the Guttmacher Institute saw a 'need for more frequent data collection and more frequent reporting' in an era of quickly changing policies on abortion, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, DoCampo says. The research team focused on abortions provided at both brick-and-mortar facilities and online-only providers in states that didn't have near-total abortion bans in 2023. DoCampo says one of the reasons the team decided not to include states with near-total bans was to protect providers' confidentiality. Some abortion shield laws offer protections for providers prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine and sending them to patients in states with bans or restrictions, but New York's law is currently being tested through two legal challenges in Louisiana and Texas. Read More: What Are Abortion Shield Laws? Because the team didn't include data from states with near-total bans or include self-managed abortions, DoCampo says, 'If we're thinking about all abortions occurring in the U.S., our numbers reflecting medication abortion provision are likely an undercount, and medication abortion likely plays an even greater role in the U.S. abortion access landscape.' The data also show that even states that have many different characteristics have similar proportions of medication abortion provision. For instance, Wyoming is a rural state with low population density and, at the time, it had a near-total ban on abortion and a first-of-its-kind ban on medication abortion. (Wyoming's abortion bans were later blocked.) Delaware, meanwhile, has a higher population density and protective abortion policies. But in both states, medication abortion accounts for a high proportion of abortions. 'It's likely that there's a constellation of factors at the state level' influencing the proportion of medication abortion, DoCampo says, such as abortion policies, insurance reimbursement rates for medication vs. procedural abortion, and the number of clinics operating in the state. Ushma Upadhyay—a professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco and a member of the university's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program—was not affiliated with the Guttmacher Institute's research and says she was 'delighted' to see this data breakdown by state. With so much variation in factors like abortion policy and insurance coverage, which all impact abortion access and preferences, this type of data is 'incredibly valuable,' she says. 'These rates show that restrictions are ineffective; when it comes to abortion, people are going to do what they need to to access abortion care,' Upadhyay says. 'I think that this is exactly why anti-abortion activists are coming after medication abortion—they can see that people are able to access it, there's more and more research that it is safe and effective, [and] patients enjoy the level of autonomy that it provides them.' Upadhyay says she thought the team's methodology was 'very strong.' But she wishes the report discussed in greater detail the role that insurance plays in this area, and agrees that the data were likely undercounting the prevalence of medication abortion because states with near-total abortion bans weren't included in the analysis. Some of the states the Guttmacher team looked at have abortion restrictions, such as Georgia, Florida, and Iowa, which all ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Upadhyay notes that some of those states had high proportions of medication abortion, including Georgia at 83%. 'That is a perfect illustration of the power that medication abortion has; it's across the country,' she says. 'People are accessing it more and more, and they're able to use it despite the increasing number of restrictions in states.' Contact us at letters@
