More than half of all abortions in the United States are done with pills instead of surgery, an upward trend that has increased. during the pandemic with the rise of telemedicine, a report released on Thursday shows.
In 2020, pills accounted for 54% of all abortions in the United States, more than about 44% in 2019.
Preliminary figures come from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports the right to abortion. The group, in contacting providers, collects more complete abortion data than the U.S. government.
The use of abortion pills has been on the rise since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, the leading drug used in drug abortions.
The new increase “is not surprising, especially during COVIDsaid Dr. Marji Gold, a family medicine physician and abortion provider in New York City. .
The pandemic caused an increase in telemedicine and FDA action that allowed abortion pills to be mailed so that patients could skip face-to-face visits to get them. These changes may have contributed to increased usage, said Guttmacher researcher Rachel Jones.
The FDA made the permanent change last December, which means millions of women can get a prescription through an online consultation and receive the pills in the mail. This move prompted opponents of abortion to step up efforts to seek additional restrictions on drug abortions through state legislatures.
The procedure includes mifepristone, which blocks a hormone needed for pregnancy to continue, followed one or two days after misoprostol, a cramping drug that empties the uterus. The combination is approved for use during 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 drug abortion, according to the Guttmacher report.
He notes that in 32 states, medicated abortions must be prescribed by doctors, although other health care providers, including nurses, may prescribe other medications. And sending abortion pills to patients is banned in three states: Arizona, Arkansas and Texas, according to the report.
According to the World Health Organization, about 73 million abortions are performed each year. In 2019, about 630,000 abortions were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although some states lack information. The latest comprehensive report on Guttmacher’s abortion dates back to 2017; the data provided on Thursday comes from an update scheduled for the end of the year.
Overall figures on medication rates versus surgical abortions are limited. Data from England and Wales show that drug abortions have outperformed surgical abortions for about 10 years.
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