Report claims U.S. abortions on the rise since Dobbs, driven by telehealth services

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the number of abortions in the United States have increased, even as some states implemented near-total bans on the procedure, according to a report by #WeCount, a research project by the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports legal abortion. Pro-life activists who spoke with OSV News expressed concern about the report — and the trends it observed.

According to the latest quarterly #WeCount report, the national monthly total of abortions of unborn children exceeded 100,000 in January 2024, the first time that threshold was observed in the report. The report has collected data since April 2022, two months prior to the Dobbs decision, which saw the Supreme Court overturn its jurisprudence holding abortion to be a constitutional right since Roe v. Wade (1973).

According to #WeCount, between 94,670 and 102,350 abortions occurred monthly from January-March 2024, with a monthly average of 98,990.

The report also found that abortion via telehealth — a term referring to health care services provided over the phone or internet — continued to increase, growing to represent about 20 percent of all abortions nationally.

“Telehealth abortion is making a critical difference” for those seeking abortions “in this increasingly restrictive environment,” Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, #WeCount co-chair and a professor with the University of California, San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research group, said in a statement.

But Tessa Cox, senior research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, told OSV News, “It’s very concerning to see the rapid increase in abortion-by-mail.”

“Abortion drugs have four times the complication rate of surgical abortion, and the risks only increase when these drugs are sent through the mail with no in-person interaction with a medical provider,” Cox claimed. “The lack of oversight enables abusers and endangers women. Women deserve real information about their pregnancy and unborn baby, not a careless stamp of approval from an abortion provider in a distant state.”

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for both Students for Life Action and Students for Life of America, told OSV News that the report should be treated with some skepticism, as there is no formal requirement for states to tally abortions in the United States.

“We can’t verify,” she said. “There is no national abortion reporting law in the U.S.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conduct an annual “Abortion Surveillance System” report that compiles state data on abortion. However, states participate on a voluntary basis, and not every state submits data.

“We need to protect life in law and in service — not because of a report that may be false — but because it’s true that human lives have worth,” Hamrick said, adding, “I certainly hope they are wrong.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, opposing direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.

After the Dobbs decision, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, and called for strengthening available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

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