Latest news with #SocietyOfFamilyPlanning
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
The number of abortions in the U.S. kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds
Abortion-rights activists holds a signs as they protest outside of the Supreme Court during a rally on March 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) The number of abortions in the U.S. rose again in 2024, with women continuing to find ways to get them despite bans and restrictions in many states, according to a report out Monday. The latest report from the WeCount project of the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access, was released a day before the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended nearly 50 years of legal abortion nationally for most of pregnancy. Currently, 12 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they are pregnant. While the total number of abortions has risen gradually over those three years, the number has dropped to near zero in some states, while abortions using pills obtained through telehealth appointments have become more common in nearly all states. Pills are used in the majority of abortions and are also prescribed in person. The overall number of abortions has risen, but it is below historic highs The latest survey, released Monday, tallied about 1.1 million abortions nationally last year, or about 95,000 a month. That is up from about 88,000 monthly in 2023 and 80,000 a month between April and December of 2022. WeCount began after Roe was overturned, and the 2022 numbers don't include January through March, when abortions are traditionally at their highest. The number is still well below the historic peak in the U.S. of nearly 1.6 million a year in the late 1990s. The Society of Family Planning relies primarily on surveys of abortion providers and uses estimates. Pills prescribed by telehealth now account for one-fourth of U.S. abortions WeCount found that in the months before the Dobbs ruling was handed down, about 1 in 20 abortions was accessed by telehealth. But during the last three months of 2024, it was up to 1 in 4. The biggest jump over that time came in the middle of 2023, when laws in some Democratic-controlled states took effect with provisions intended to protect medical professionals who use telehealth to prescribe pills to patients in states where abortion is banned or where there are laws restricting telehealth abortion. WeCount found that about half of the telehealth abortions last year were facilitated by the shield laws. The number of telehealth abortions also grew for those in states without bans. WeCount is the only nationwide public source of information about the pills prescribed to women in states with bans. One key caveat is that it is not clear how many of the prescriptions result in abortion. Some women may change their minds, access in-person abortion or be seeking pills to save for future use. The WeCount data could help explain data from a separate survey from the Guttmacher Institute, which found the number of people crossing state lines for abortion declined last year. Anti-abortion efforts are focused on pills Anti-abortion efforts are zeroing in on pills, along with barring federal funds for Planned Parenthood and undoing ballot measures that provided for abortion access. Three states have sued to try to get courts to limit telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of the two drugs usually used in combination for medication abortions. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration last month told a judge it does not believe the states have legal standing to make that case. The U.S. Supreme Court last year found that anti-abortion doctors and their organizations didn't have standing, either. Meanwhile, officials in Louisiana are using criminal laws, and there is an effort in Texas to use civil penalties against a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to women in their states. Louisiana lawmakers have also sent the governor a bill to further restrict access to the pills. SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said on a call with reporters Monday that it's a priority for her group to keep pushing U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials to investigate the safety of abortion pills — and to require that they be dispensed only in person. Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Abortions in the US are on the rise three years after Roe v Wade was overturned
Three years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, erasing the national right to abortion and paving the way for more than a dozen states to ban the procedure, the number of abortions performed in the US is still on the rise – including in some states that ban the procedure. US abortion providers performed 1.14m abortions in 2024, according to new data released Monday by #WeCount, a Society of Family Planning project that has tracked abortion provision since 2022. That's the highest number on record in recent years. 'We were really surprised to see the numbers go up over time,' said Ushma Upadhyay, a University of California, San Francisco professor who serves as co-chair of the #WeCount steering committee. 'Abortion bans haven't really stopped people from needing abortion care. It's just made it harder for them to be able to get them.' Although most of the abortions documented in #WeCount's report took place in person, a growing number of abortions are occurring through telehealth, including among patients living in one of the dozen-plus states that ban virtually all abortions. In a telehealth abortion, patients generally meet virtually with a provider before receiving abortion pills through the mail. By December 2023, 19% of abortions took place through telehealth – but by December 2024, that share had risen to 25%. In the last three months of 2024 alone, more than 70,000 abortions were performed through telehealth. These abortions are particularly popular in states with large rural regions, such as Montana, Nevada and Hawaii. Much of the increase in telehealth abortions can be attributed to the spread of 'shield laws'. Enacted by at least eight states since Roe's fall, these controversial laws are designed to protect abortion providers who treat women in states with bans from prosecution by those states. Demand for shield-law abortions has skyrocketed over the last two years. In July 2023, when the first shield-law abortion providers started operating, they facilitated fewer than 6,000 abortions for people living in states that ban almost all abortions or that restrict telehealth abortions. In December 2024, these providers performed almost 14,000 abortions. 'There's more abortion taking place in Mississippi today than there was prior to Dobbs,' said Dr Angel Foster, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (Map), which uses shield laws to ship abortion pills out to about 2,500 patients per month. 'That really speaks to how little access some folks had to in-clinic abortion care prior to Dobbs and how shield law provision and telemedicine has really stepped into that space.' #WeCount also collected information on how many abortions were reported to government authorities in states with abortion bans in 2024. On average, states where abortion is totally banned saw just 30 in-person abortions per month, #WeCount found. All abortion bans permit abortions in emergency situations, but activists have long contended that that bans' exceptions are written so narrowly and vaguely that they are unworkable in practice. Since Roe fell, dozens of women have come forward to say they were denied emergency abortions. In Upadhyay's view, the #WeCount data backs up the claim that exceptions don't work. 'That seems very low,' Upadhyay said. 'That is something that I think states with abortion bans should be paying attention to and be concerned about.' The future of shield laws is now in doubt, as anti-abortion activists are trying to test their durability in court. Texas has sued a New York doctor over accusations that she mailed abortion pills to a woman in Texas, while Louisiana has indicted the same doctor for allegedly mailing a pill to that state. Access to the common abortion drug mifepristone is also under assault. Martin Makary, the FDA commissioner, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, have called for a 'review' of mifepristone, which is typically used in telehealth abortions – and which has been deemed safe by more than 100 studies conducted across dozens of countries. Kennedy specifically cited the results of a flawed analysis pushed by anti-abortion groups that claimed the complication rates from taking mifepristone are higher than previously known. 'Clearly, it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,' Kennedy told the Missouri senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, during a congressional hearing. For now, however, Foster remains optimistic about the future of her work. 'There will be a point where growth stops. There's a finite number of people who have an abortion each year,' Foster said. 'But I do think within our practice and within the shield law space we are anticipating that there will continue to be growth in demand.'
Washington Post
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
The number of abortions kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds
The number of abortions in the U.S. rose again in 2024, with women continuing to find ways to get them despite bans and restrictions in many states, according to a report out Monday. The latest report from the WeCount project of the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access, was released a day before the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended nearly 50 years of legal abortion nationally for most of pregnancy.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
The number of abortions kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds
The number of abortions in the U.S. rose again in 2024, with women continuing to find ways to get them despite bans and restrictions in many states, according to a report out Monday. The latest report from the WeCount project of the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access, was released a day before the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended nearly 50 years of legal abortion nationally for most of pregnancy. Currently, 12 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they are pregnant. While the total number of abortions has risen gradually over those three years, the number has dropped to near zero in some states while abortions using pills obtained through telehealth appointments has become a more common method in nearly all states. Pills are used in the majority of abortions and are also prescribed in person. The overall number of abortions has risen, but it is below historic highs The latest survey, released Monday, tallied about 1.1 million abortions nationally last year, or about 95,000 a month. That is up from about 88,000 monthly in 2023 and 80,000 a month between April and December of 2022. WeCount began after Roe was overturned, and the 2022 numbers don't include January through March, when abortions are traditionally at their highest. The number is still well below the historic peak in the U.S. of nearly 1.6 million a year in the late 1990s. The Society of Family Planning relies primarily on surveys of abortion providers and uses estimates. Pills prescribed by telehealth now account for one-fourth of US abortions WeCount found that in the months before the Dobbs ruling was handed down, about 1 in 20 abortions was accessed by telehealth. But the last three months of 2024, it was up to 1 in 4. The biggest jump over that time came in the middle of 2023, when laws in some Democratic-controlled states took effect with provisions intended to protect medical professionals who use telehealth to prescribe pills to patients in states where abortion is banned or where there are laws restricting telehealth abortion. WeCount found that about half telehealth abortions last year were facilitated by the shield laws. The number of telehealth abortions also grew for those in states without bans. WeCount is the only nationwide public source of information about the pills prescribed to women in states with bans. One key caveat is that it is not clear how many of the prescriptions result in abortion. Some women may change their minds, access in-person abortion — or could be seeking pills to save for future use. The WeCount data could help explain data from a separate survey from the Guttmacher Institute, which found the number of people crossing states lines for abortion declined last year. Anti-abortion efforts are focused on pills Anti-abortion efforts are zeroing in on pills. Three states have sued to try to get courts to limit telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of the two drugs usually used in combination for medication abortions. President Donald Trump 's administration last month told a judge that it does not believe the states have legal standing to make that case. The U.S. Supreme Court last year found that anti-abortion doctors and their organizations didn't have standing, either. Meanwhile, officials in Louisiana are using criminal laws, and there is an effort in Texas to use civil penalties against a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to women in their states. Louisiana lawmakers have also sent the governor a bill to further restrict access to the pills.
Associated Press
9 hours ago
- Health
- Associated Press
The number of abortions kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds
The number of abortions in the U.S. rose again in 2024, with women continuing to find ways to get them despite bans and restrictions in many states, according to a report out Monday. The latest report from the WeCount project of the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access, was released a day before the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended nearly 50 years of legal abortion nationally for most of pregnancy. Currently, 12 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they are pregnant. While the total number of abortions has risen gradually over those three years, the number has dropped to near zero in some states while abortions using pills obtained through telehealth appointments has become a more common method in nearly all states. Pills are used in the majority of abortions and are also prescribed in person. The overall number of abortions has risen, but it is below historic highs The latest survey, released Monday, tallied about 1.1 million abortions nationally last year, or about 95,000 a month. That is up from about 88,000 monthly in 2023 and 80,000 a month between April and December of 2022. WeCount began after Roe was overturned, and the 2022 numbers don't include January through March, when abortions are traditionally at their highest. The number is still well below the historic peak in the U.S. of nearly 1.6 million a year in the late 1990s. The Society of Family Planning relies primarily on surveys of abortion providers and uses estimates. Pills prescribed by telehealth now account for one-fourth of US abortions WeCount found that in the months before the Dobbs ruling was handed down, about 1 in 20 abortions was accessed by telehealth. But the last three months of 2024, it was up to 1 in 4. The biggest jump over that time came in the middle of 2023, when laws in some Democratic-controlled states took effect with provisions intended to protect medical professionals who use telehealth to prescribe pills to patients in states where abortion is banned or where there are laws restricting telehealth abortion. WeCount found that about half telehealth abortions last year were facilitated by the shield laws. The number of telehealth abortions also grew for those in states without bans. WeCount is the only nationwide public source of information about the pills prescribed to women in states with bans. One key caveat is that it is not clear how many of the prescriptions result in abortion. Some women may change their minds, access in-person abortion — or could be seeking pills to save for future use. The WeCount data could help explain data from a separate survey from the Guttmacher Institute, which found the number of people crossing states lines for abortion declined last year. Anti-abortion efforts are focused on pills Anti-abortion efforts are zeroing in on pills. Three states have sued to try to get courts to limit telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of the two drugs usually used in combination for medication abortions. President Donald Trump's administration last month told a judge that it does not believe the states have legal standing to make that case. The U.S. Supreme Court last year found that anti-abortion doctors and their organizations didn't have standing, either. Meanwhile, officials in Louisiana are using criminal laws, and there is an effort in Texas to use civil penalties against a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to women in their states. Louisiana lawmakers have also sent the governor a bill to further restrict access to the pills.
