Medication abortions: The majority of abortions are not surgical

Medication abortions: The majority of abortions are not surgical

6/28/22 8:00PM

Last Friday, about 5 minutes after we had hit send on our newsletter, a notification hit all of our phones: Roe v. Wade was being struck down. Over the weekend much of the focus was on the response and laws of individual states. Some had trigger laws already in place that effectively banned abortions immediately, while others have plans for similar laws — The Guardian has a helpful map on where abortion laws stand in each state.

‍Medication abortions

‍In years gone by images of abortion clinics have dominated media coverage of the issue — but surgical abortions are no longer the norm. In fact the majority (54%) of all abortions performed in the US in 2020 were medication abortions, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute. Approved for use for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy by the FDA, medication abortions are now often mailed to patients after an online or telehealth consultation. That rule — to allow pills to be sent by mail — only changed in April 2021, and is likely to become the next major legislative battleground for states looking to ban, or restrict, access to abortions.

The prevalence of medication abortions, coupled with the change in mail ruling from last year, could make enforcement for states looking to ban abortions difficult. One organization, Just The Pill, is planning a fleet of "mobile clinics" that will park on state borders and provide consultations or pills to women where bans are in effect.

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