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After the US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in June 2022 overturned the federal right to abortion, abortions are on the rise in the United States, despite bans in more than a dozen states.
In the year There were more than 1 million abortions in the US in 2023, the highest rate in more than a decade and a 10% jump from 2020; Report The release Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health, supports abortion rights. The latest trends suggest that medical abortion is an ever more common option.
Even if abortion is stopped Of the 14 states with total bans, nearly all increased the number of abortions provided between 2020 and 2023. Total bans increased by 25% during those years.
“The significant access loss in states without bans is balanced by the enormous efforts of clinics, abortion funds, and logistical support organizations to provide financial and practical support to people in ban states to access care,” the report's authors said.
States bordering the ban had particularly large increases, but other states where abortion was legal also saw increases.
“While access for people living in restricted states is remarkably limited, access for residents of non-restricted states is likely to be greatly improved,” the authors write.
In addition to state policies to protect patients and access care and increase funding from abortion funds, researchers at the Guttmacher Institute say improved access to telehealth in recent years has made medical abortion more widely available.
Medical abortion has become more common than ever after Roe, according to another new Guttmacher report. In the year Nearly two-thirds of the estimated 642,700 abortions in the U.S. in 2023 will be medication abortions, the report says.
Medication abortionAlso known as a medical abortion, it is a method in which a person ends a pregnancy by taking two pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – instead of a surgical procedure.
This option has steadily become more common over the past two decades, from less than 10 percent of abortions in America in 2001 to 53 percent in 2020 and 63 percent in 2023.
But in the year The abortion drug mifepristone, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000, is facing an unprecedented legal challenge. On March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that threatens access to the drug — even in states where abortion is legal — and questions the courts' authority to overturn decisions made by FDA experts on drug use. Security.
Misoprostol can be used alone for medical abortion and is a safe alternative, but studies indicate that using both pills together is the gold standard.
He did research It has been found for a long time Medication abortion is safe and effective, but another recent study shows that is also true when the patient receives the medication during a telehealth appointment.
“Any restrictions on access to abortion through telemedicine would be detrimental to those who choose to use telemedicine or choose to have an abortion,” Guttmacher researchers wrote in the new report. “Although the current court case affects only the use of mifepristone – and the misoprostol-only regimen is a safe and effective method of medical abortion – anyone seeking an abortion should have access to safe and effective alternatives.”
The new reports from Guttmacher estimate abortion trends based on responses from a sample of abortion providers in the US. They likely underestimate the number of abortions in the U.S. because the data do not include abortions performed outside the regular health care system or medical abortions sent to people in states where abortion is prohibited.
's Jane Christensen and Tierney Snead contributed to this report.