{"id":296149,"date":"2023-08-15T08:43:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T13:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=296149"},"modified":"2023-08-14T15:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T20:44:07","slug":"chemical-abortion-increases-state-unregulated-expand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chemical-abortion-increases-state-unregulated-expand\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical abortion increases at state level while unregulated virtual clinics expand"},"content":{"rendered":"
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State abortion data is confirming that chemical abortion use is on the rise, as unregulated virtual abortion pill dispensaries also increase<\/a> since the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to weaken<\/a> safety regulations (REMS) for the abortion pill mifepristone.<\/p>\n

Data from Planned Parenthood\u2019s former \u201cspecial affiliate,\u201d the Guttmacher Institute,\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that by 2020, abortion pills made up\u00a0over half of all abortions<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(53%). Accumulative data published by the FDA\u00a0reveals<\/a> that the abortion pill has ended the lives of 5.6 million babies in the U.S. since its approval in 2000. But, according to a recent analysis published<\/a> by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), “Of the 31 states that have released 2021 abortion statistics, 29 reported chemical abortion data for 2020 and 2021.Among these 29 states, chemical abortions jumped by eight percent from 2020 to 2021, representing 57 percent of these states\u2019 total abortions in 2021. In 23 states, chemical abortions composed half or more of all abortions.”<\/p>\n

“Twenty-three states reported that chemical abortions increased from 2020. Connecticut had the largest percentage increase (74 percent), while Florida had the largest absolute increase (4,624 chemical abortions). In 2021, twelve states reported increases in chemical abortions of more than 10 percent, with four of those states reporting an increase of more than 30 percent from 2020,” CLI wrote.<\/p>\n

“Only six states reported a decrease in chemical abortions from 2020. Arkansas had the largest percentage decrease (31 percent), and Texas had the largest absolute decrease (2,002 abortions). Both Maine and Texas reported decreases in abortion overall,” CLI added, noting,\u00a0“The trend toward increasing use of chemical abortion generally is likely to continue, as 2021 was the first full year without the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s enforcement of its requirement for mifepristone to be dispensed to women in person.”<\/p>\n

Since the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em>\u00a0overturning the\u00a0Roe v. Wade<\/em> decision last June, facilities offering chemical abortions and abortion pill dispensaries also increased \u2014 and prescribers continue to flout approved FDA gestational limits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Virtual Clinics<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2022, the Abortion Care Network (ACN) claimed<\/a> that, \u201conly 31 states and Washington DC allow clinics to provide abortion via telemedicine\u2026” A June 2023 issue brief<\/a> published by the pro-abortion Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) claimed<\/a> that \u201cIn 2020, there were no virtual clinics providing medication abortion,\u201d but by 2021, \u201c32 virtual clinics (4% of 773 facilities offering medication abortion) began providing care via telehealth in 22 states and DC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy 2022, 69 virtual clinics (9% of 789 facilities offering medication abortion) provided this care in 23 states and DC. Virtual clinics were largely concentrated in the Northeast and West, while state bans were enacted in the Southeast and Midwest prohibiting any type of abortion, including telehealth medication abortion,\u201d ANSIRH claimed.<\/p>\n

A 2023 study recently published<\/a> in Obstetrics and Gynecology, ACOG’s Green Journal, found that 28 states “currently have statewide or state virtual abortion clinics.” The study, which investigated “current abortion access in the United States based on geographic location and to forecast access according to the landscape of abortion care in the year after the Dobbs v Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision,” also contained multiple errors<\/strong> where data written in text<\/em> conflicted with data included in the study’s graph (see below).<\/p>\n

It’s unclear how the ACOG’ journal’s reviewers missed these inconsistencies \u2014 but when it comes to abortion, in some instances submissions that agree with abortion receive far less scrutiny. Therefore, for this analysis, Live Action News used just the data published in the graph (below).<\/p>\n

“Virtual clinics may be fully independent virtual clinics with no brick-and mortar affiliation or those affiliated with a physical clinic,” authors Maeve Alterio, BS, Robin Von Davies, MSMA, Michele Tobias, PhD, Arthur Koehl, BA, Jennifer H. Tang, MD, MSCR, and Dawn Kopp, MD, MPH wrote.<\/p>\n

The graph indicates that so-called virtual clinics exist in additional states such as: Alaska (1), California (14), Colorado (11), Connecticut (6), Delaware (4), Hawaii (4), Illinois (11), Iowa (1), Kansas (1), Massachusetts (8), Maine (8), Maryland (9), Michigan (3), Minnesota (9), Montana (4), Nevada (3), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (7), New Mexico (11), New York (9), Oregon (5), Pennsylvania (2), Rhode Island (6), Vermont (5), Virginia (9), Washington (8), Wyoming (1), and Washington D.C. (5).<\/p>\n

\"Abortion

Abortion clinics and virtual abortion numbered (Graph: Obstetrics and Gynecology July 2023)<\/p><\/div>\n

Various websites, including Plan C, identify some of the virtual clinics are as follows:<\/p>\n