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By Kelly Baden | It has been three years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, unleashing legal chaos and confusion for patients and providers across the United States. But even though abortion is banned in many U.S. states, the antiabortion movement is only intensifying its campaign to restrict abortion access nationwide. Overturning Roe is just the beginning; since then, the movement has pursued a range of strategies to make abortion completely inaccessible no matter where you live.
Abortion access in the U.S. is a patchwork. Thirteen states are currently enforcing total abortion bans, and others ban abortion as early as six weeks. Yet, despite these restrictions, the number of U.S. abortions increased in both 2023 and 2024. Two primary factors that have helped mitigate some of the impacts of abortion restrictions are the greater availability of medication abortion and more people traveling out of state for care. These two options are imperfect, as everyone deserves access to their preferred method of abortion care in their own community. But they have been lifelines for patients—and are now the antiabortion movement’s next targets.
Data from the Guttmacher Institute reveals major shifts since Roe fell. From 2020 to 2023, the share of abortions that were medication abortions rose from 53 percent to 63 percent. And we know these numbers are almost certainly an undercount because of provision under shield laws and people who self-manage their abortions. Meanwhile, the number of people who traveled out of state for abortion care has doubled since 2020. These trends reflect the determination of people to access care against all odds—and the dynamic network of clinicians, abortion funds, practical support volunteers and online resources that helped make it possible.
But the antiabortion movement has a multi-pronged strategy to undercut these shifts. Just this year, 25 states have introduced at least 68 bills to restrict medication abortion. A Wyoming law that is currently blocked in court would require patients to obtain an ultrasound 48 hours before a medication abortion, forcing patients to make several trips to a clinic when clinical evidence shows that telehealth is a safe option for this care. Other lawmakers have floated baseless claims that medication abortion and even hormonal birth control contaminate the water supply as another avenue of attack.
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