Mail-Order Abortions, Now Protected by Court, Are Growing Rapidly

The Supreme Court, for now, has protected telehealth abortion, which accounts for a substantial and growing share of abortions in the United States.

One-fifth of abortions, an average of 17,000 per month, were done via telehealth from October through December, the most recent period for which data is available, according to WeCount, an organization that surveys abortion providers around the country. In telehealth abortions, pills are prescribed over video or via online forms, and do not involve an in-person visit between a clinician and patient.

The share of these abortions has grown rapidly in recent years; there were fewer than 4,000 in April 2022. The growth of mail-order abortion has been one of the main drivers of the unexpected increase in abortions nationwide since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

On Thursday, the court upheld broad access to the drug mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortion. It decided unanimously that anti-abortion plaintiffs lacked the right to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions about how the pills could be administered. Since 2021, the agency has allowed abortion pills to be prescribed online and mailed to patients.

Nearly half of telehealth abortions in late 2023, around 7,800 a month, were for patients in states where abortion is currently banned or substantially restricted. Shield laws in some states where abortion is legal protect clinicians who prescribe and mail pills to women in states with bans.

(The WeCount survey was conducted before the implementation of a Florida law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, so it does not reflect any increases in telehealth abortions done under shield laws since that ban.)