Fewer people traveled for abortions as telehealth went up: report |
Fewer people traveled for abortions as telehealth went up: report
A new report from the reproductive health nonprofit The Guttmacher Institute found that fewer people are traveling from states with total abortion bans to access abortion services, while the rate of telehealth use for at-home abortions has gone up.
In the years following the 2022 Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade, travel across state lines for abortions has gone down. In 2023, about 170,000 people did so, dropping to 154,000 in 2024. By 2025, this figure had fallen to 142,000, according to the Guttmacher Institute’s findings.
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 according to the organization’s report. The number of estimated annual abortions in the U.S. changed by less than 0.2 percent between 2024 and 2025, at roughly 1,126,000 last year.
Part of this is because telehealth for abortion services went up in 2025 within the 13 states that currently have total abortion bans. 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.
These provisions are indicative of clinicians in states with laws more protective of abortions providing services across state lines by mailing the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol through the mail. Chemical abortions account for roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S.
A report recently released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that the majority of patients receiving abortion services from clinicians in the state are, in fact, living out of state by a wide margin.
According to the findings, 21,407 abortions were provided to Massachusetts residents in 2024, while 27,836 were provided to non-residents.
“The majority of that care is being provided by telehealth by Massachusetts providers to people living in states like Texas or Alabama or other restrictive states. There’s very little physical travel into Massachusetts for care at brick and mortar facilities,” noted Maddow-Zimet.
He highlighted Illinois as another state that has accounted for a significant amount of abortion care for out-of-state residents, about 32,000 or nearly a quarter of out-of-state abortions provided in 2025.
When asked whether this shift towards telehealth abortions has had an impact on quality of care, Maddow-Zimet said decades of research have shown this method to be “really safe and effective.”
“It’s very low risk,” he said. “Ultimately, patients should be able to access abortion care in their own communities using the method of their choice and in the setting of their choice.”
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