Some Republican-Led US States Target Abortions Done Through Medication

About 40% of all abortions in the United States are done through medication, rather than surgery, and that option has become more pivotal during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Abortion rights advocates say the pandemic has demonstrated the value of medical care provided virtually, including the privacy and convenience of abortions taking place in a woman's home, instead of a clinic. Abortion opponents, worried the method will become increasingly prevalent, are pushing legislation in several Republican-led states to restrict it and, in some cases, ban providers from prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine. Ohio enacted a ban this year, proposing felony charges for doctors who violate it. The law was set to take effect next week, but a judge has temporarily blocked it in response to a Planned Parenthood lawsuit. In Montana, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is expected to sign a ban on telemedicine abortions. The measure's sponsor, Rep. Sharon Greef, has called medication abortions "the Wild West of the abortion industry" and says the drugs should be taken under close supervision of medical professionals, "not as part of a do-it-yourself abortion far from a clinic or hospital."