Telemedicine abortion continues to rise, especially in states with protective laws, report says • Idaho Capital Sun

The overall number of abortions and the use of telehealth services for abortions continue to rise in the United States, according to the latest #WeCount report released Wednesday.

Telehealth accounted for 20% of all abortion care in the first three months of 2024, and monthly abortion totals surpassed 100,000 for the first time since the group began tracking abortion data in 2022.

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#WeCount is a collaborative group of researchers who collect national abortion data from clinics each month and is a project of the Planned Parenthood Society, a membership organization focused on the science of abortion and contraception. Dr. Alison Norris, co-chair of the group, said the data covers about 80% of abortion clinics nationwide. From that data, the group makes estimates to account for clinics that don’t provide reports.

According to the report, about 19,700 telemedicine abortions were performed each month between January and March 2024. States with the largest increases in the average number of abortions per month compared to the first three months of 2023 include New York, California, Virginia, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Kansas saw 59% more telemedicine abortions and 29% more in-person abortions performed each month.

Norris said the use of telehealth has continued to grow, particularly now that five states — New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont and Colorado — specifically protect those providing telehealth abortions from legal ramifications if they work with patients from states with abortion restrictions. Maine will become the sixth state when its protection law goes into effect Friday. Fourteen states in the U.S. have a near-total ban on abortion, including Idaho.

“There was already a movement toward telehealth (during the COVID-19 pandemic), but I think it was accelerated by necessity,” Norris said.

According to the report, telemedicine abortions performed by doctors in states with shield laws averaged 9,200 per month between January and March 2024. That’s an increase of about 1,200 per month from the last report, which showed data from October through December 2023.

In the nine months from July 2023 to March 2024, more than 65,000 people in states with near-total or six-week bans and in states with telehealth restrictions have accessed the medication abortions provided for under the protection laws.

But the vast majority of abortions are still performed in person, Norris said, in part because medication abortion can only be prescribed via telehealth up to 10 weeks gestation, and because some people simply prefer to be seen in person.

The total number of abortions per month has also increased, peaking at 102,350 in January. The average for the first three months of 2024 was 98,990; the highest monthly number during the last quarter of 2023 was 91,470.

Norris said data shows the number of abortions began to rise nationally in 2017, and while it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause, there are new factors that could be contributing. Some people who needed an abortion before the Dobbs decision in 2022 might be able to get one once states passed legislation to remove barriers. And for those who faced financial challenges getting an abortion, she said, there’s more awareness of abortion funds and other sources of support.

“There is a lot more information in the ecosystem, there are better resources on the internet and there has potentially been a destigmatization of abortion, given how frequently it appears in the media and what politicians talk about it,” Norris said.

While she sees it as a positive that many people living in states with near-total bans or six-week bans can access abortion via telehealth, she said it’s still an unfair situation.

“These bans and restrictions are not based on scientific evidence in terms of public health, and the fact that thousands and thousands of people do not have access to safe, routine health care that is urgently needed simply because of the state they live in is an injustice that I hope people will take into account,” Norris said. “It’s important that people maintain the will to continue to advocate for access for all people in the U.S., no matter where they live.”