More than half of US abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery, an upward trend that spiked during the pandemic with the increase in telemedicine, a report released Thursday shows. In 2020, pills accounted for 54% of all US abortions, up from roughly 44% in 2019. The preliminary numbers come from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The group, by contacting providers, collects more comprehensive abortion data than the US government, reports the AP.
Use of abortion pills has been rising since 2000 when the FDA approved mifepristone—the main drug used in medication abortions. The pandemic prompted a rise in telemedicine and FDA action that allowed abortion pills to be mailed so patients could skip in-person visits to get them. Those changes could have contributed to the increase in use, said Guttmacher researcher Rachel Jones. The FDA made the change permanent last December, meaning millions of women can get a prescription via an online consultation and receive the pills through the mail. (Though mailing abortion pills to patients is banned in three states—Arizona, Arkansas, and Texas, the report says.)
The procedure includes mifepristone, which blocks a hormone needed for pregnancy to continue, followed one or two days later by misoprostol, a drug that causes cramping that empties the womb. The combination is approved for use within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, although some health care providers offer it in the second trimester, a practice called off-label use. So far this year, 16 state legislatures have proposed bans or restrictions on medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher report.
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