Abortion bans have not reduced demand for abortion, according to new #WeCount data, while telehealth has transformed how many patients obtain care.
Four years after the Supreme Court handed states the power to ban abortion, a striking paradox has emerged: Abortion rates are rising.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the number of abortions in the U.S. has increased over 20 percent, according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest #WeCount report, released June 10.
The monthly average number of abortions inside the medical system climbed from 79,560 per month on average in the second half of 2022 to 93,900 per month on average in 2025.
Across the U.S., 1.13 million abortions were provided in the formal healthcare system in 2025—in a country where more than a dozen states have banned it.
These numbers are likely just the tip of the iceberg—an undercount of abortion within the medical system because not all providers report their numbers, especially telehealth providers serving patients living in states with abortion bans. These numbers also do not include the growing number of women obtaining and using abortion pills outside of the medical system.
The #WeCount study reported that the percentage of abortions provided by telehealth increased from 22 percent in 2024 to 28 percent in 2025 of all abortions within the U.S. healthcare system—an estimated 300,000 telehealth abortions in 2025.
The surge in telehealth abortion has emerged as the driving force, a beacon for those navigating a shattered post-Roe landscape.
“Telehealth is a safe, effective option for people to get timely care without having to go in-person to a health center. It has become critical for people navigating abortion bans, long travel distances, clinic closures, and financial barriers,” said Leah Koenig, Ph.D., MSPH, Society of Family Planning #WeCount director.
But experts say the #WeCount numbers only scratch the surface, with the number of people obtaining abortion by telehealth likely far higher than reported.
“These findings that hundreds of thousands are availing themselves of telehealth abortions is good news, but not surprising to those of us who continue to track this revolution in care. Indeed, we know this is a significant undercount,” Francine Coeytaux, co-founder and former co-director of Plan C, which conducts research and shares information about how people are accessing abortion pills in the U.S. “Because of the ongoing lawsuits, many providers who prescribe pills by mail do not feel safe to report their numbers. But thankfully, they continue to provide, many shipping hundreds per week.”
Since the FDA first allowed telehealth abortion in 2021, its reach has been remarkable.
Telehealth abortion grew from 5 percent of all abortions in April 2022 to 29 percent by December 2025.
States permitting telehealth saw its use vary widely—from 10 percent in New York to 44 percent in Nevada in 2025.
In states with total bans, telehealth made up 97 to 100 percent of abortions in the medical system.
The barriers to abortion access long predate Dobbs, experts say.
“Even before the Dobbs decision, people were navigating a challenging patchwork of abortion access depending on where they live,” said Alison Norris, M.D., Ph.D., #WeCount co-chair, professor at The Ohio State University College of Public Health, and co-principal investigator of the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network.
Before telehealth abortion, patients often had no choice but to travel 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 women in all 50 states to access abortion care from the privacy of their homes for $150 or less.
And patients prefer it: A new study on telehealth abortion found that telehealth abortion receives higher satisfaction scores than in-person abortion care.
For women living under gestational bans or other restrictions, telehealth abortion has become their last critical—often their only realistic—avenue of access.
In eight states, shield laws have punched through abortion bans, allowing telehealth abortion providers to serve patients in states where clinicians inside state borders are banned or restricted from providing abortion services.
By December 2025, more than half of reported telehealth abortions—54 percent—were delivered under these shield laws.
Consider Mississippi—the very state that brought the case that overturned Roe v. Wade. The number of people obtaining abortions inside the state has nearly doubled” from less than 350 in April of 2022, to over 600 in December 2025. This is also true in Louisiana and Texas.
Despite the bans, women in restrictive states have many options. Plan C has identified seven shield state providers serving restrictive states: Abuzz, Aid Access, Choice Rising, The MAP, A Safe Choice, We Take Care of Us and Southern Woven—all offering abortion pills for $150 or less, delivered in a week or less.
By the end of 2025, telehealth abortion providers operating in shield states were serving 14,870 women living in states with bans or restrictions per month, up from 9,180 in June 2024—a 62 percent increase.
In states banning abortion entirely, nearly all clinician-provided abortions are now delivered via telehealth under shield laws. In states that allow abortion but restrict telehealth, the share of abortions provided via telehealth under shield laws varies dramatically.
In North Carolina, which bans abortion at 12 weeks, 18 percent of abortions come from shield state telehealth providers.
In South Carolina, which bans abortion at just six weeks, shield state telehealth providers account for a staggering 70 percent of all abortions.
The success of telehealth abortion across borders has foiled conservatives’ attempts to ban abortion at the state level, so they are now trying to restrict access to telehealth abortion nationwide by suing the FDA and directly pressuring the agency.
Last week, the FDA renewed its pledge to launch a so-called “safety review” of mifepristone, a drug that has been used safely by over 7.5 million women in the United States over the last quarter century.
Despite over 100 peer-reviewed studies confirming mifepristone’s safety, Trump’s FDA based its review on a six-page, non-peer-reviewed, methodologically-flawed report produced by an antiabortion group—not science.
They want to roll back the clock entirely: Their goal is to reverse the FDA’s 2021 decision allowing telehealth abortion or pull mifepristone from the market altogether.
But telehealth providers are already one step ahead: They are prepared to pivot to misoprostol alone or substitute mifepristone with ulipristal acetate, the emergency contraceptive under the brand name Ella, which research has shown to be effective.
And even if conservatives succeed, abortion pills, including mifepristone, will always remain available by mail frominternational telehealth providers, community groups and online vendors of abortion pills. Tens of thousands of abortions obtained in these ways–abortions not included in the #WeCount data.
Two international telehealth providers—Women on Web and Abortion Pills in Private—are already serving nearly 1,000 U.S. patients each month, mostly women living in states with bans and restrictions, delivering pills for $120 or less with three- to six-day delivery. A third, Women Help Women, are prepared to begin offering services to the U.S. if the FDA restricts mifepristone.
Community groups are stepping up too. In restrictive states, community groups affiliated with Red State Access are sharing free abortion pills with people living in 38 states with bans, restrictions and limited access.
Another network, DASH, shares free abortion pills with women living in fourteen states.
Some groups even support women through second-trimester medication abortion using a two-mifepristone regimen with doula accompaniment.
Others are obtaining abortion pills online for as little as $82, delivered in seven days or less.
The surge in abortions is likely being driven by multiple factors, 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.
As these factors increase the number of unwanted pregnancies, demand for abortion is increasing. Abortion pills and telehealth have expanded abortion access and no ban has been or will be able to stop it, with telehealth providers, shield state clinicians and community groups on the frontlines.
Look to these trusted groups if you or a loved one needs to know more about reliable abortion care:
- A one-stop-shop for abortion seekers: I Need An A
- Safe websites to buy abortion medication: Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder
- If you need help affording abortion care, contact an abortion fund near you.
- To protect your digital privacy when planning your abortion, click here.
- For free legal help as a patient or doctor, call If/When/How’s Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812
- For medical advice, contact the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline: 833-246-2632
- If you need to know the abortion law in your state, look to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
