Abortions in the US have sharply increased despite bans implemented in Republican-led states after the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.
More than 1m abortions were performed in the US in 2023, a 10% increase from 2020, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute, an American policy organization which advocates for sexual and reproductive health.
The latest data provides a more comprehensive picture of abortion access in the first full year after the supreme court issued the Dobbs decision that rolled back federalized rights and protections to abortion access.
A rise in medication abortions largely drove the increase, the Guttmacher Institute said. Also known as medical abortions, medication abortions are performed by taking a dose of two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol.
Medication abortions made up 63% of all abortions in the US in 2023, with 642,700 medication abortions taking place in formal healthcare settings. Only 492,210 medication abortions occurred in 2020, making up 53% of US abortions, the study concluded.
But the number of medication abortions in 2023 may be higher than the study suggests. Current figures do not include self-managed abortions or those who received abortion medication in states where there are total bans.
“As abortion restrictions proliferate post-Dobbs, medication abortion may be the most viable option – or the only option – for some people, even if they would have preferred in-person procedural care,” Guttmacher’s principal research scientist, Rachel Jones, said in a news release.
The FDA in 2000 first approved mifepristone to terminate pregnancies of up to 10 weeks when used with misoprostol.
Despite mifepristone and misoprostol being determined safe, Republicans have continually attempted to curtail access to the abortion medication. And last July, a Republican-backed spending bill included several provisions to prevent access to the pill via the mail nationwide and broadly curtail abortion rights.
The supreme court on 26 March is scheduled to start hearing a case to decide the future of mifepristone. The decision could drastically restrict access to the medication, with a ruling expected in summer 2024.
“Reinstating outdated and medically unnecessary restrictions on the provision of mifepristone would negatively impact people’s lives and decrease abortion access across the country,” Guttmacher’s director of federal policy, Amy Friedrich-Karnik, said.
The latest figures on abortion come as at least 20 states have enacted near-total or complete bans on the procedure after the supreme court’s conservative supermajority eliminated the federal right once provided by the 1973 Roe decision.
