Abortion estimates released by the Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount project show a slight increase in abortions and highlight how telehealth abortions are undermining state abortion restrictions in the post-Dobbs era.
The #WeCount project report published earlier this month estimated that 1.13 million abortions took place across the United States in 2025. The Society of Family Planning’s (SFP) research initiative stated that the number of abortions in 2025 was slightly higher than it was in 2024.
While the in-person abortion volume appeared to fluctuate from month to month, with monthly numbers in 2025 being lower than in 2024, the report found an increase in the number of telehealth abortions - those carried out by women at home using pills delivered in the mail following a virtual consultation with an abortion provider.
More than 300,000 abortions were provided via telehealth, according to the report, which found that, overall, 28% of abortions took place via telehealth.
Telehealth abortions grew from 5% of all abortions in April 2022 to 29% in December 2025. In comparison, 13% of abortions were done via telehealth in 2023, and 22% were done by telehealth in 2024.
“Across the US, in states that permit abortion and telehealth provision of abortion, there was substantial variation in the proportion of abortions provided via telehealth, ranging from 8% to 44%,” the report stated. “In several larger population states (eg, New York, California, Illinois, and New Jersey), telehealth represents a smaller share of abortions, at 10-13% of all abortions.”
As for states with restrictions on abortion and telehealth abortions, the report found that the share of abortions provided via telehealth under shield laws “varied widely.”
In states that have a near-total ban on abortion, researchers found that telehealth abortions provided under shield laws made up “nearly all abortions occurring within those states.”
According to the report, the number of abortions remains higher than before the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and ruled abortion is not a constitutional right.
Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and an assistant professor of social research at The Catholic University in Washington, told The Christian Post that the #WeCount figures show that telehealth abortions are playing “a large role in this abortion increase.”
“Overall, this #WeCount report provides evidence that stopping telehealth abortions needs to be a top priority for pro-lifers. A recent Lozier Institute report shows that these telehealth abortions are largely unregulated," he said.
“This is an important public health concern. The Trump administration’s [Food and Drug Administration] need not wait for the completion of a study to halt telehealth abortions.”
The #WeCount figures provide evidence about the importance of policy changes in the post-Dobbs era, he stressed.
“Strong pro-life laws were struck down in both Missouri and North Dakota in 2024. Unsurprisingly, abortion numbers in both states dramatically increased in 2025. Delaware saw an increase as well — partly because their state Medicaid program started covering elective abortion in January 2025,” New told CP.
Earlier this year, Planned Parenthood's former research arm released estimates that also show a rise in abortions in the United States despite the passage of restrictions.
According to the data released by the Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 1,126,000 abortions were performed in the U.S. last year, a slight increase from the estimated 1,124,000 conducted in 2024.
In a statement to CP at the time, New said the data shows fewer women living in states with strong laws against abortion obtained abortions out of state in 2025, but the decline was "more than offset by the increase in women living in pro-life states who obtained telehealth abortions."
"Overall, Guttmacher's data indicated that 91,000 women living in states with strong pro-life laws obtained telehealth abortions in 2025 — an increase of more than 26% over the previous year."
"Overall, telehealth abortions are weakening the strong pro-life laws that many states passed after the Dobbs decision," he continued.
The pro-life scholar noted, however, that in-state abortion rates fell by approximately 25% in 2025 in Florida and Iowa after the states began enforcing heartbeat abortion bans that prohibit abortion once a preborn child's heartbeat becomes detectable.
"In 2024, Missouri voters placed legal abortion in the state's constitution," New stated. "Similarly, North Dakota's life at conception law was struck down in 2024. Both Missouri and North Dakota experienced large abortion increases in 2024."
While the pro-life scholar acknowledged the abortion estimates released by Guttmacher are "fairly accurate," he warned that the prevalence of telehealth abortions may reduce the accuracy of these recent abortion estimates.
