The number of women seeking abortions in the United States rose in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the right at the federal level, according to a report released Wednesday, reflecting efforts by Democratic-controlled states to expand access to abortion services in the face of a Republican push to the contrary.
One of the main reasons for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states have enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that ban abortions, according to the #WeCount quarterly report from the Planned Parenthood Society, which supports abortion access.
The data comes ahead of the November election, when abortion rights advocates hope the issue will spur voters to the polls. In some places, voters will have the opportunity to enshrine or reject abortion protections at the state level.
The fallout from the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has changed how abortion works across the country. #WeCount data, collected in a monthly survey since April 2022, shows how abortion providers and seekers have adapted to the changes in law.
The survey found that the number of abortions dropped to almost zero in states that ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy and fell by about half in places that ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. Fourteen states enforce abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and another four ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
The numbers rose in places where abortion remains legal until later in pregnancy, and especially in states like Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico, which border states with bans.
The report estimates that without the post-Dobbs bans, there would have been about 9,900 more abortions per month — and 208,000 total since then — in those states. The numbers rose by more than 2,600 per month in Illinois, about 1,300 in Virginia, 1,200 in Kansas and more than 500 in New Mexico.
Abortion pills and telemedicine play a key role. In March, doctors in states with laws protecting health care providers used telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills to nearly 10,000 patients in states with abortion bans or restrictions — about 1 in 10 abortions in the United States.
Laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills began to go into effect in some Democratic-led states last year.
“It alleviates the burden on clinics,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine who co-leads #WeCount. “It creates more space for people who come to clinics.”
Abortion opponents said the fight over the abortion drug mifepristone is not over after a narrow Supreme Court ruling that preserved access — for now. But so far there have been no legal challenges to the shielding laws.
The latest edition of the survey covers the first three months of this year, which saw an average of just under 99,000 abortions a month, down from 84,000 in the two months before Dobbs. January marked the first time since the study began that more than 100,000 abortions were counted nationwide.
The survey collects monthly data from providers across the country, allowing for a quick snapshot of abortion trends. In some states, a portion of the data is estimated. The data are made public with less than a six-month lag, providing a much quicker snapshot of trends than annual reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose most recent report covers abortion in 2021.
Before shield laws started to take effect and #WeCount began counting, people were still getting some pills in places with bans.
One of the states where abortions increased was Florida. That changed in April, when the ban after six weeks of gestation went into effect. The data has not yet reflected that change.
The policy could change again through a ballot measure in November that would legalize abortion up to the limit of viability, generally considered to be around 23/24 weeks of pregnancy.
At least 60% approval is needed to add it to the state Constitution.
One of the dissenting votes will be Mia Adkins, a 20-year-old student at Florida International University. “Instead of pushing for abortion to be legalized later in pregnancy, we should be pushing for laws to be passed that protect these pregnant parents and students and provide them with the support they need,” said Akins, a senior at Florida International University.
Florida is one of six states where abortion-related measures are already on the ballot. In four other states, election officials are awaiting a decision on whether to add similar questions. In one of them, Nebraska, there are dueling amendments: One to allow access up to viability and another to maintain the current ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Abortion rights supporters have carried the vote in all seven U.S. elections since 2022. That’s in line with public opinion polls that have shown growing support for abortion rights, including a recent Associated Press-NORC poll that found 6 in 10 Americans think their state should allow someone to get a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for whatever reason.
An amendment to protect access could be on the ballot in Arizona, a battleground state where court cases have rocked abortion policy — and access — since the Dobbs ruling.
The state Supreme Court ruled in April that Arizona must enforce an 1864 ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, but lawmakers repealed the law. The ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy remains in place. The ballot measure would extend it to 24 weeks.
Natalie Harper, a 23-year-old independent who doesn’t usually vote, said the possibility of the Civil War-era ban being reinstated “absolutely” influenced her decision to speak out in favor of the measure in November. “Seeing that possibility made me realize that everyone’s pro-choice voices need to be heard in the hopes that it never goes that way again,” she said.
In Missouri, which has outlawed nearly all abortions and where almost none were recorded in the new data, election officials could soon certify whether a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights has received enough petition signatures to be eligible for election in the Republican-majority state.
Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Missouri, said that if the measure makes it onto the ballot, it could attract enough Democratic voters to swing some close midterm elections: “They can play on the arguments for personal liberty that Republicans have made in recent elections.”
