Despite many states imposing sweeping abortion bans after Dobbs, more Americans are having abortions, not fewer—according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest #WeCount report.
- In 2024, licensed clinicians provided 1.14 million abortions to patients across the United States—up from 1.06 million in 2023.
- The number of abortions in the U.S. increased by 80,000 between 2023 and 2024—a 7.5 percent jump.
- In addition, at least 45,000 people obtained abortion pills outside of the medical system through community networks and more obtained abortion pills from international telehealth providers and websites selling pills.
“The #WeCount findings make clear that abortion bans haven’t stopped people from seeking care,” said Alison Norris, M.D., Ph.D., #WeCount co-chair and professor at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health and co-principal investigator of the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network.
The share of abortions done via telehealth took off: By 2024, mailing pills increased from 20 percent in 2023, to 25 percent in 2024—up from just 5 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
States permitting telehealth saw its use vary widely— from 7 percent in Washington, D.C., to 40 percent in Delaware between June 2024 to December 2024. Half of the abortions in states with bans were done by telehealth.
“Telehealth has become a vital tool in expanding abortion care—especially for people in states with bans,” said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, #WeCount co-chair and professor at the University of California, San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH).
In eight states, provider shield laws protect telehealth abortion providers, enabling them to serve patients in states banning or restricting clinicians from providing abortion services within their borders. These shield state clinicians provide an average of 12,330 abortions per month in the final quarter of 2024, surging from a monthly average of 8,747 over the first quarter of 2024. By December 2024, abortions provided under shield laws totaled nearly 14,000 that month.
The abortion pill information website Plan C now lists six shield state providers serving restrictive states: Abuzz, Aid Access, Choice Rising, The MAP, A Safe Choice and We Take Care of Us.
Even in states with total bans, abortions climbed sharply in 2024.
In Texas, for example, the number of abortions rose from 2,540 in December 2023 to 4,000 in December 2024—a 57 percent jump.
Other ban states saw even steeper increases over the same period: Mississippi increased 56 percent (360 to 560), Louisiana increased 59 percent (520 to 830), Missouri increased 75 percent (160 to 280), Arkansas increased 83 percent (180 to 330), South Dakota increased 100 percent (20 to 40) and North Dakota increased 200 percent (10 to 30).
Overall, telehealth abortions provided under shield laws to states with total bans climbed from 5200 in December 2023 to 8,500 in December 2024, a 63 percent increase.
For six-week ban states, telehealth abortions provided surged from 920 in December 2023 to 3,630 in December 2024—almost a 300 percent increase!
“Millions of people live in states where abortion is banned or restricted, and traveling for care isn’t an option for everyone,” said Dr. Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (The MAP), a shield law practice. “By providing safe, affordable medication abortion via telemedicine, we make sure people can get the care they need—no matter where they live or what they can afford.”
Amid this surge, the MAP provided abortion pills to 10,861 patients in 2024, most of whom lived in states with severe restrictions or total bans on abortion. In just the first five months of 2025, The MAP provided abortion pills to over 12,000 patients.
Before telehealth abortion, patients often traveled hundreds of miles to brick-and-mortar clinics, braved gauntlets of protesters and paid on average $560 for medication abortion. Today, virtual consultations and prompt delivery of pills by mail allow people in all 50 states to access abortion care from the privacy of their homes for $150 or less because many providers offer the service for a sliding scale fee.
The #WeCount data excludes those who obtained abortions entirely outside of the medical system. Since Dobbs, community networks affiliated with Red State Access have supported close to 100,000 people—offering free pills at all gestations with accompaniment for those living under restrictive abortion laws. People are also obtaining abortion pills online for as little as $65 with three- to six-day delivery.
A number of factors likely contribute to the increase in abortion, including reduced access to contraception in states banning abortion resulting in more unwanted pregnancies; the increasing medical dangers of carrying pregnancies to term in states without health exceptions for emergency care; the increased criminalization of pregnant women post-Dobbs, which discourages women from carrying pregnancies to term; and the deterioration of social safety net programs that enable women to afford to bring pregnancies to term.
