A report by the Society of Family Planning found that abortion rates continued to climb in 2024, in part due to the influence of telehealth programs.
Although most abortions continue to be had in person, 25% of abortions are had through telehealth programs. “As telehealth has grown, the number of in-person abortions has not declined commensurately,” the report says, suggesting that telehealth merely provides another avenue to terminate pregnancies rather than replace clinic visitations.
As of 2022, less than 10% of abortions were had through telehealth services, which involve mailing pills to terminate pregnancies.
A recent study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that 1 in 10 women who take mifepristone to induce abortions experience severe complications, a number at least 22 times as high as reported on the drug’s label.
The study, described by the think tank as the “largest-known study of the abortion pill,” found that “10.93 percent of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.” It explained that the “real-world” rate of the serious adverse events is “at least 22 times as high as the summary figure of ‘less than 0.5 percent’ in clinical trials reported on the drug label.”
Some states have filed legal challenges against those prescribing abortion pills.
Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against New York physician Margaret Daley Carpenter after she prescribed abortion pills to a Texas woman who suffered severe complications, including heavy bleeding, leaving her in the emergency room. “In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient,” Paxton said when filing the lawsuit. “This doctor prescribed abortion-inducing drugs — unauthorized, over telemedicine — causing her patient to end up in the hospital with serious complications.”
