Telemedicine and FDA Regulation

A new Guttmacher Institute report released Tuesday estimates that clinicians provided about 1,126,000 abortions in the U.S. in 2025, essentially unchanged from 2024 despite a wave of state bans and restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Researchers attribute the stability largely to telemedicine abortions made possible after the FDA allowed mifepristone to be prescribed without in‑person visits in 2023 and to “shield laws” in supportive states that protect providers who mail pills into states with bans. The data show that more people in restriction states now obtain abortions via telehealth while cross‑border travel for in‑person procedures has declined, suggesting enforcement efforts are being partially routed around rather than reducing overall procedure numbers. The article includes the account of a 27‑year‑old Atlanta woman who, after missing Georgia’s six‑week cutoff, obtained mifepristone and misoprostol by mail from a Massachusetts telemedicine service, underscoring how state maternal‑mortality concerns and convenience are shaping patient choices. Anti‑abortion groups, frustrated that bans have not cut national totals, are backing lawsuits and federal legislation aimed at forcing the FDA to end mail distribution of mifepristone, setting up another front in the national legal fight over abortion access.