Abortion Traits Earlier than and After Dobbs

• Within the years following the Supreme Court docket ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the quantity of abortions nationally has barely elevated. The latest information from the Society for Household Planning’s #WeCount mission present that the common month-to-month abortion quantity in 2025 was larger than the month-to-month common in 2024. From January to December 2025, there have been 1.13 million abortions in comparison with 1.11 million abortions in all of 2024 and 1.05 million abortions in 2023. For a lot of the decade previous to the Dobbs ruling, there was a gradual decline in abortion charges nationally, with a slight uptick within the years simply earlier than the ruling.
• The upward development in abortion quantity is probably going as a result of a number of causes, together with expanded telehealth capability, the flexibility to mail remedy abortion drugs to sufferers, and the decrease prices for telehealth abortions by digital clinics in comparison with in-person care. Treatment abortion through telehealth now accounts for 28% of all abortions.
• In distinction to the bans on the supply of abortion, a number of states have handed legal guidelines to guard and develop abortion entry. Twelve (12) states require state-regulated non-public plans to cowl abortion, many with out cost-sharing, and 20 Medicaid packages use state-only funds to cowl almost all medically essential abortions. Twenty-three (23) states handed protect legal guidelines supposed to cut back the authorized dangers for clinicians who present abortion care to sufferers who reside in states the place abortion is banned or restricted.
• Interstate journey for abortion has additionally elevated. The journey charge for abortion care throughout state strains almost doubled from 2020 to 2024, with Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Kansas experiencing the best quantity of out-of-state abortion sufferers final 12 months.
• The CDC, which traditionally collected abortion Information from most states, has not revealed any new abortion surveillance information because the second Trump Administration started. The latest information was collected in 2022, the identical 12 months because the Dobbs ruling.

Following the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Health Group, IT was usually anticipated that the abortion charge would drop as a result of variety of states that quickly adopted abortion bans (13 states) and early gestational restrictions (6 states). There isn’t any doubt these insurance policies have made abortion entry way more difficult and even not possible for these searching for abortion who reside in restrictive states; but, opposite to expectations, latest information present that the quantity of abortions within the U.S. total has barely elevated in three years following the Supreme Court docket ruling. The mix of progress in telehealth availability for abortion care, decrease telehealth prices, elevated authorized reproductive Health Care protections by state efforts, and better charges of interstate journey, all seemingly contributed to the surprising trajectory in abortion quantity. Nonetheless, the potential of extra state bans and restrictions mixed with the continuing authorized challenges searching for to additional limit entry might reverse this development. Moreover, future actions that the Trump administration might take on the federal degree might additional restrict abortion availability and entry even in states which have enshrined the appropriate to abortion, significantly if the administration restricts the distribution of remedy abortion drugs by the Comstock Act or targets the supply of telehealth abortions by regulatory revisions on the Meals and Drug Administration.

This transient opinions the completely different sources of abortion information within the U.S., the elements which have affected abortion charges throughout the nation earlier than and after Dobbs, and what we might even see because the Trump administration, Republican majorities within the Home and Senate, and a conservative federal judiciary form coverage within the coming years.

How is abortion tracked on the state and federal degree?

Three main organizations gather and report nationwide and state-level information on abortion quantity and charges: the federal Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), the Guttmacher Institute, and most not too long ago, the Society of Household Planning by its (SFP) #WeCount mission. 

For many years, the federal CDC Abortion Surveillance System has requested information from the central Health companies of the 50 states, D.C., and New York Metropolis to doc the quantity and traits of girls acquiring abortions. Reporting to the CDC is voluntary and never all states take part within the surveillance system. Notably, California, Maryland, and New Hampshire haven’t reported information on abortions to the CDC system for years. Most states gather and report information on the demographic traits of sufferers, gestational weeks, and kind of abortion process. CDC publishes information from the surveillance system yearly, with the newest information on abortions in 2022, reflecting a 2-year lag. For the reason that second Trump Administration started, the CDC has not issued any new surveillance information on abortion, and the federal workers from the company’s Reproductive Health Division have been terminated.

Previous to the Dobbs ruling, the Guttmacher Institute, an unbiased analysis and advocacy group, periodically carried out the Abortion Supplier Census (APC), accumulating information on abortion incidence, abortion amenities, and affected person traits. Knowledge from the APC are based mostly totally on questionnaires accomplished by recognized amenities that present abortion within the nation, Information from state Health departments, and Guttmacher estimates for a small portion of amenities. The latest APC stories information from 2020. Following the Dobbs ruling, the Guttmacher Institute established an extra information assortment initiative, the Monthly Abortion Provision Study, to trace abortion quantity inside the formal U.S. Health Care system. This ongoing effort collects information on and gives nationwide and state-level estimates on abortions whereas additionally monitoring the adjustments in nationwide abortion quantity since 2020.

Whereas the CDC and Guttmacher APC information differ when it comes to assortment strategies, timeframe, and completeness, each have proven related developments in abortion charges over the previous decade. One notable distinction is that Guttmacher’s survey has included steady reporting from all states, which explains at the least partly the upper abortion quantity of their information.

Society of Household Planning’s (SFP) #WeCount is a more moderen nationwide reporting initiative that measures adjustments in abortion quantity following the Dobbs ruling. The mission gives semiannual stories on the month-to-month variety of abortions by state and consists of information on abortions offered by in-person Health Care settings and thru telehealth. The #WeCount report began accumulating information in April 2022 and has revealed three full years of abortion information since Dobbs.

What number of abortions occurred previous to the Dobbs ruling?

For a lot of the decade previous to the Dobbs ruling, there was a gradual decline in abortion charges nationally, however there was a slight improve within the years simply earlier than the ruling.

The latest CDC information are from 2022, the identical 12 months because the Dobbs choice, and present that abortion charges declined from 2013 by 2017 and remained regular within the years main as much as the court docket choice (Determine 1). CDC reported 609,360 abortions in 2022 and a charge of 11.2 abortions per 1,000 girls (excludes CA, DC, MD, NH, and NJ). In distinction, the Guttmacher Institute reported 930,160 abortions in 2020 and a charge of 14.4 abortions per 1,000 girls. Guttmacher’s examine confirmed a slight upward development in abortion from 2017 to 2020 whereas CDC’s report confirmed a secure charge in abortions from 2017 to 2022 apart from a slight uptick in 2019 and 2021.

Consultants usually attribute the long-term decline in abortion charges to elevated use of extra effective methods of contraception. The slight improve within the years main as much as the Dobbs choice may very well be as a result of better state-level protection of Medicaid enrollees that made abortion entry extra inexpensive in some states in addition to broader monetary assist from abortion funds to assist people pay for the prices of abortion care.

Even previous to the Dobbs ruling, abortion charges different broadly between states.

Nationwide averages can masks native and extra granular variations. A few of the variation in abortion quantity and charges has been as a result of huge variations in state insurance policies which have formed the supply of abortion, with some states traditionally putting restrictions on abortion (comparable to focused laws of abortion suppliers, necessities for a number of visits, and necessary ready durations), that constrained abortion entry and availability. In some states, there have been just one or two abortion clinics even earlier than Dobbs.

What has occurred to abortion quantity since Dobbs?

The SFP and Guttmacher Institute information each discover that whereas the variety of abortions within the U.S. dropped instantly following Dobbs, the entire quantity or quantity of abortions nationally has increasedthree full years following the ruling. Nonetheless, the consistency noticed on the nationwide degree obscures huge state-level variation and sharp declines in abortion quantity in states with bans and early gestational restrictions.

The newest SFP’s #WeCount information present that there have been 1.13 million abortions carried out or drugs distributed in 2025. There have been 1.11 million abortions in 2024, barely up from 1.05 million in 2023. The month-to-month common abortions steadily elevated from 85,780 abortions monthly in 2023 to 92,400 abortions in 2024 to 93,900 in 2025 (Determine 3).

Why did abortions improve after states instituted bans?

Whereas IT was not a complete shock that states with out abortion bans had a rise in abortions following the Dobbs ruling, the explanations behind this improve are complicated. The upward development is probably going as a result of a mix of elevated interstate journey for abortion entry by folks coming from abortion ban states, the presence of state-level legal guidelines in states that shield suppliers who provide abortion providers, decrease prices related to telemedicine remedy abortions, and expanded digital/telehealth capability and the flexibility to mail remedy abortion drugs to sufferers from each bricks-and-mortar and telemedicine-only suppliers.

The Rise of Treatment Abortion, Telehealth, and Digital Clinics

Whereas procedural abortions are solely carried out in a scientific setting, remedy abortion might be offered both in a scientific setting or remotely through telehealth. Treatment accounts for almost two thirds (65%) of abortions nationally. Accepted by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000, mifepristone, one of many medicine used for remedy abortion, has a stable security and effectiveness file no matter whether or not the drugs are distributed in particular person by a clinician (both medical physician or superior observe clinician) or through telehealth and mailed or distributed by a retail pharmacy. When taken, remedy abortion efficiently terminates the being pregnant 91.9% to 99.7% of the time, with a 0.4% danger of main problems, and an related mortality rate of lower than 0.001 % (0.0005%). The newest Guttmacher data present that in states with out bans, remedy accounted for almost all of abortions in 2023 (Determine 4). In 5 states (MT, WY, NE, GA, and VT), greater than eight in ten abortions have been remedy abortions.

Entry to remedy abortion through telehealth had been traditionally restricted by an FDA coverage (Danger Analysis Mitigation Technique or REMS) that had permitted solely physicians in a Health Care setting to dispense mifepristone in particular person. This resulted in a restriction on the flexibility to mail the drugs or for retail pharmacies to dispense. In December 2021, the Information-patients-and-providers/questions-and-answers-mifeprex”>FDA revised this coverage, lifting the requirement that clinicians dispense the drug solely in-person. This was carried out, partly, to alleviate the burden positioned on the Health Care supply system through the COVID-19 public Health emergency. In January 2023, the FDA finalized a coverage change that permits retail Information-patients-and-providers/Information-about-mifepristone-medical-termination-pregnancy-through-ten-weeks-gestation”>pharmacies to dispense remedy abortion drugs to sufferers with a prescription. These adjustments opened the door to better use of telehealth for remedy abortions. Subsequently, there was a rise within the variety of digital clinics, which now account for 1 / 4 (24%) of amenities that provide remedy abortion providers.

The latest report exhibits that telehealth abortions accounted for 28% of all abortions in 2025(Determine 5). The #WeCount stories distinguish between telehealth abortions offered by brick-and-mortar amenities from these offered beneath protect legal guidelines that give some authorized protections to clinicians who present abortion care through telehealth to folks dwelling in states with bans and restrictive insurance policies. Greater than half of those telehealth abortions have been carried out beneath protect legal guidelines (56%), 7% of abortions have been from on-line providers provided by clinics that historically function from bodily areas (brick-and-mortar amenities), and 4 in ten (40%) have been from virtual-only clinics. The availability of telehealth abortions varies broadly throughout states, starting from 8% in D.C. to 44% in Nevada. Notice: The counts for remedy abortions, significantly these offered by mail, mirror the variety of drugs distributed by suppliers, not essentially full abortions.

Prices for Telemedicine Abortions

The median price of remedy abortion provided by brick-and-mortar clinics elevated from $580 in 2021 to $600 in 2023. In distinction, the median worth of remedy abortions through digital clinics decreased from $239 in 2021 to $150 in 2023, which is 75% lower than the price of in-person care (Determine 6). Digital clinics don’t incur lots of the prices of a bodily clinic, comparable to constructing upkeep, assembly laws for surgical facilities, and safety to deal with protesters. The elevated availability of telehealth and digital clinics has lowered the prices of care and diminished monetary boundaries ensuing from abortion providers in addition to journey and different associated bills.

Prices for some have additionally been offset by the supply of economic help and logistical assist from national and Technology/2022/05/04/reddit-auntie-network-abortion/”>native networks of abortion funds. Since Dobbs, these networks obtained a reported 39% extra requests for abortion assist and financially supported more than 100,000 individuals searching for abortion care.

State-Stage Protections

Over the previous a number of years, among the states the place abortion stays authorized have handed legal guidelines to guard abortion entry for his or her residents and develop entry to folks searching for abortions from different states. For instance, residents in California are protected against civil liabilities for offering or receiving abortion providers, and suppliers are protected against skilled self-discipline. Insurance policies which have been applied embody utilizing state funds to cowl abortions beneath Medicaid beyond federal limitations, elevating Medicaid reimbursement charges for abortion providers, requiring state-regulated non-public plans to cowl abortion, and enacting protect legal guidelines to guard clinicians who present abortions of their states both in particular person or through telemedicine. 

As we speak, 12 states require state-regulated non-public plans to cowl abortion, some with none cost-sharing (Determine 7).

State actions to make use of their very own revenues to pay for abortions have additionally expanded entry to abortion providers. States aren’t restricted by the federal Hyde Modification (which bans the usage of federal funds for abortion in Medicaid, Medicare and different public packages except the being pregnant is a results of rape, incest, or if IT endangers the girl’s life) and have the choice to make use of state-only funds to cowl abortions beneath different circumstances for ladies on Medicaid, which 20 states do at the moment.

A rising variety of states handed shield laws to cut back the authorized dangers for clinicians who present abortion care to sufferers who reside in states the place abortion is banned or restricted. Whereas the small print of those legal guidelines range state to state, some policies shield clinicians from skilled self-discipline for providing Health Care that’s criminalized in one other state, and others shield clinicians who present care to sufferers throughout state strains, comparable to by prescribing and mailing abortion drugs through telehealth providers to sufferers of their state of residence. Some states additionally handed broader protect legal guidelines to guard sufferers and folks aiding with reproductive providers from civil and legal penalties. As of July 2026, 22 states and Washington D.C. have enacted protect legal guidelines, with 8 states extending specific protections to clinicians no matter affected person location or state of residence (Determine 8).

Interstate Journey

The Guttmacher Institute Monthly Abortion Provision Study is the one information supply to this point to offer in-depth Information on interstate journey pre- and post-Dobbs. Guttmacher estimates that previous to Dobbs, almost one in ten folks obtained an abortion by touring throughout state strains in 2020. Although abortion was authorized, there have been appreciable restrictions in lots of states that made abortion entry very restricted, which led to the necessity for interstate journey for abortion take care of some folks. The latest data present that 142,000 sufferers traveled out of state for abortion care in 2025, a slight drop from 2024, however notably larger than the variety of vacationers in 2020 (81,000), earlier than the Dobbs ruling. The states with the best variety of folks touring inbound for abortion care border at the least one state the place abortion is banned, together with Illinois (32,560 sufferers), North Carolina (17,870 sufferers), Kansas (13,630 sufferers), and New Mexico (10,180 sufferers) (Determine 9).

Whereas the information present that abortions barely elevated three years after Dobbs, ongoing and impending authorized challenges, state legislative efforts, and federal govt actions might additional alter the reproductive care panorama and have impacts past abortion counts. A latest JAMA examine, for example, discovered that fertility charges have elevated in states with full or 6-week abortion bans, specifically amongst populations with the best structural disadvantages and boundaries to acquiring abortion care. A concurrent examine confirmed infant mortality charges have additionally risen in these states, lots of that are already experiencing among the worst maternal, toddler, and baby Health outcomes within the U.S. The findings from these research underscore the widespread repercussions of coverage efforts geared toward proscribing abortion entry.