US abortions have nearly doubled since Dobbs, driven by telehealth pills
The number of abortions in the United States has nearly doubled since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, even as a growing number of states banned the procedure, according to reporting by NPR . The increase has been driven largely by medication abortion — pills prescribed and shipped through telehealth — rather than in-clinic care.
A significant share of those prescriptions reach patients in states with bans, sent by providers in states whose shield laws protect them from out-of-state prosecution. The pattern helps explain how national totals can rise while clinics close in much of the country: the locus of care has shifted from physical facilities to remote prescribing, making bans harder to enforce in practice and setting up the next round of legal fights over shield laws and the regulation of abortion pills.