Abortions outside medical system increased sharply after Roe fell, study finds [View all]

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Source: Washington Post

Abortions outside medical system increased sharply after Roe fell, study finds
Researchers report that volunteer-led networks distributing abortion pills helped drive a rise in 'self-managed' abortions.

By Caroline Kitchener and N. Kirkpatrick
March 25, 2024 at 11:05 a.m. EDT

The number of women using abortion pills to end their pregnancies on their own without the direct involvement of a U.S.-based medical provider rose sharply in the months after the Supreme Court eliminated a constitutional right to abortion, according to the most comprehensive examination to date of how many people have ended their pregnancies outside of the formal medical system since the ruling.

Nearly 28,000 additional doses of pills intended for "self-managed" abortions were provided in the six months after the fall of Roe v. Wade -- more than quadrupling the average number of abortion pills provided that way per month before the decision and suggesting that many women have turned to medication abortion to circumvent state bans.

The research -- published in JAMA on Monday,(1) the day before the highly anticipated Supreme Court arguments on a challenge to a key abortion drug -- highlights the importance of abortion pills in post-Roe America. Before the ruling legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, women seeking abortions were forced to find someone to perform an illegal surgical procedure, leading to thousands of deaths. Today, the process for accessing abortion is far easier and safer, with a rapidly expanding online and community-based network of pill suppliers sending pills through the mail into states with strict bans.

Other studies have estimated(2) that approximately 32,000 fewer abortions occurred at licensed brick-and-mortar and telehealth clinics in the six months following the fall of Roe. But the jump in self-managed abortions offsets nearly that whole figure.

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By Caroline Kitchener
Caroline Kitchener is a reporter covering abortion at The Washington Post. She won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Twitter https://twitter.com/CAKitchener

By Nick Kirkpatrick
Nick Kirkpatrick is a visual reporter at The Washington Post. They collaborate across the newsroom to report and produce visually driven stories told in interactive forms. Twitter https://twitter.com/n_kirkpatrick

(1) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.4266

(2) https://societyfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/WeCountReport_April2023Release.pdf

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/25/abortions-outside-medical-system-increased-sharply-after-roe-fell/