More people accessing abortions through telehealth as travel slows

More people accessing abortions through telehealth as travel slows 

Fewer people living in states with total abortion bans are traveling to access abortion services, but the number of clinician-provided abortions in the U.S. remained stable last year as more people turned to telehealth. 

© Getty Images/iStock

A new report from the reproductive health nonprofit The Guttmacher Institute found that the number of people crossing state lines to access abortions has dropped by 28,000 between 2023 and 2025. 

States like Idaho and Tennessee have passed “abortion-trafficking” laws that penalize residents who travel out of state to receive abortion care. 

But the rate of clinician-provided abortion services remained relatively stable with an estimated 1,126,000 abortions performed in the U.S. last year, representing a change of less than 0.2 percent between 2024 and 2025. 

Roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. are chemical abortions done through the abortion pill. The report found that the number of telehealth provisions increased from about 72,000 to 91,000. 

“It makes sense that we’d see a decline in travel. Because people accessing abortion care through telehealth in general then no longer need to travel for care. So it’s not surprising, per se, but it is the first time that we’ve been able to put out specific numbers showing this shift,” Guttmacher data scientist Isaac Maddow-Zimet told The Hill. 

Maddow-Zimmet highlighted states like Michigan and Illinois as providing a significant number of abortions to out-of-state patients, with the latter accounting for nearly a quart of all non-resident abortions provided last year. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

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Local and state headlines on health care:

North Carolina’s prison system strained by growing need for long-term care (North Carolina Health News) 

On 16th anniversary of Affordable Care Act, Virginia’s federal lawmakers and health leaders weigh risks (Virginia Mercury) 

New Mexico jury says Meta harms children’s mental health and safety, violating state law (The Mercury News) 

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Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

The potential loophole in Trump’s plan to get other countries to pay more for drugs (Stat) 

It’s not just vaccines: Parents are refusing other routine preventive care for newborns (CNN) 

New tongue-swab TB test could help eradicate the disease, WHO says (Forbes) 

Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:

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