US abortions reach highest level in over a decade, sparked by surge in medication abortion

Abortions are on the rise in the United States, despite bans that have taken effect in more than a dozen states since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that revoked the federal right to abortion in June 2022.

Abortions are on the rise in the United States, despite bans that have taken effect in more than a dozen states since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that revoked the federal right to abortion in June 2022. There were more than 1 million abortions in the US in 2023, the highest rate in more than a decade and a 10% jump from 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. The latest trends also suggest that medication abortion is a more common option than ever. Although abortions all but stopped in the 14 states with total bans, nearly every other state had an increase in the number of abortions provided from 2020 to 2023. As the geography of abortion care shifted amid a fractured policy landscape, the 10% increase in abortions nationwide meant that states without total bans saw a 25% increase in those years. The “drastic loss of access in states with bans has been counterbalanced by monumental efforts on the part of clinics, abortion funds and logistical support organizations to help people in ban states access care through financial and practical support,” the authors of the report wrote. States bordering those with bans had particularly large increases, but abortions also increased in other states where they remained legal. “It is very possible that, while access was dramatically curtailed for people living in ban states, access substantially improved for residents of states without bans,” the authors wrote.