Telehealth Abortions Surge in States with Protective Shield Laws

Both the overall number of abortions and the use of telehealth abortion care 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 quarter of 2024. The monthly total of abortions also surpassed 100,000 for the first time since the group’s data tracking began in 2022.

#WeCount, a collaborative project of the Society of Family Planning, compiles national abortion data from clinics monthly. Dr. Alison Norris, the group’s co-chair, mentioned that they capture about 80% of abortion clinics nationwide and make estimates for the rest.

The data revealed that from January to March 2024, about 19,700 telehealth abortions occurred each month. States like New York, California, Virginia, Kansas, and Pennsylvania saw significant jumps in abortion numbers compared to the same period in 2023.

Kansas notably experienced a 59% increase in telehealth abortions and a 29% rise in in-person abortions each month. Norris attributed the continuous growth in telehealth primarily to legal protections in states like New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont, and Colorado, which shield providers from penalties when servicing patients from restrictive states. Maine will join this list with its shield law taking effect on Friday. Fourteen states in the U.S. have near-total abortion bans.

“There was already a move toward telehealth during the COVID pandemic, but I think it was accelerated by the need,” Norris said.

The report highlighted that telehealth abortions in states with shield laws averaged 9,200 per month during the first quarter of 2024. This is an increase from the previous report, which showed an average of 8,000 per month from October to December 2023.

In the nine months spanning from July 2023 to March 2024, over 65,000 people in states with near-total or six-week bans accessed medication abortion under shield laws.

Despite this growth, Norris emphasized that most abortions still occur in person. Medication abortion through telehealth remains limited to pregnancies under ten weeks, and some individuals prefer in-person consultations.

The overall number of monthly abortions has also increased, peaking at 102,350 in January. The average for the first three months of 2024 was 98,990, compared to 91,470 in the last quarter of 2023.

Norris noted that the rise in abortions began in 2017. While pinpointing a single cause proves challenging, she identified factors such as reduced barriers post-Dobbs decision, greater awareness of abortion funds, and increased support options.

“There’s a lot more information in the ecosystem, there’s better resources on the internet, and there’s potentially been a destigmatization of abortion, given how much it’s in the media and being talked about by politicians,” Norris said.

She views the access to telehealth abortions for those in restrictive states positively but stressed the unfairness of the situation. “Those bans and those restrictions are not evidence-based in terms of public health science, and the fact that thousands and thousands of people don’t have access to ordinary and safe health care that’s time-sensitive just because of the state where they live, it is an injustice that I hope people keep their eyes on,” Norris asserted.

“It’s important that people maintain the will to keep advocating for access for all people in the U.S., no matter where they live,” she added.