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TELL ME PLEASE, WHAT HAVE WE DONE, WHAT DID WE ACCOMPLISH 😭💔🙏🕯Data from the Guttmacher Institute reveals that U.S. clinicians provided an estimated 1,126,000 abortions in 2025, which is a 21% increase from the 930,160 abortions reported in 2020 (the last comprehensive national dataset before the Dobbs decision). Similarly, tracking from the Society of Family Planning's #WeCount Project shows a steady upward trend in volume, logging 1.05 million abortions in 2023, 1.11 million in 2024, and 1.13 million in 2025.Factors Driving the National IncreaseWhile individual states with near-total bans experienced sharp drops in local, in-person procedures, overall national numbers rose due to structural changes in how care is accessed:Telehealth and Medication Abortion: The primary driver is the expansion of virtual clinics and online ordering. Medication abortion (abortion pills) now accounts for a massive portion of overall care.State "Shield Laws": Several states (such as Massachusetts, New York, and Washington) passed laws protecting local doctors who prescribe and mail abortion pills to patients living in states with total bans. Telehealth via these shield-law states now constitutes a significant percentage of all U.S. abortions.Interstate Travel: Tens of thousands of patients continue to travel out of restrictive states to receive in-person care in nearby states where the procedure remains legal, such as Illinois, New Mexico, and North Carolina.These figures primarily measure abortions within the formal U.S. healthcare system; experts note that self-managed abortions outside of formal clinical settings have also likely increased🗺️ State-by-State Data: Where Abortion Increased the MostThe state-level data demonstrates that national increases are heavily driven by two distinct geographic trends: border states adjacent to areas with total bans, and major telehealth shield states.According to tracking from KFF and the Guttmacher Institute, the states experiencing the highest volume increases in physical, out-of-state patients include:Illinois: Became the primary destination for patients traveling from the Midwest and South, drawing thousands of individuals from neighboring Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and beyond.New Mexico & Kansas: Both experienced immense surges in caseloads due to their proximity to Texas and Oklahoma, which implemented complete bans.North Carolina: Despite enacting its own 12-week restriction, North Carolina remains a primary access point for patients traveling from deep southern states with near-total bans (like South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama).🛡️ The Legal Status of Medication Abortion Shield Laws"Shield laws" are legal statutes passed by states protecting abortion rights to insulate their local healthcare workers from being prosecuted or sued by states with abortion bans.Currently, 23 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted reproductive shield laws. Within that group, the legal dynamics operate on two distinct levels:1. Out-of-State Telehealth Protection (The 8 "Core" States)Only 8 states—California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—have explicit provisions protecting clinicians who use telehealth to treat patients physically located in a state with a ban.How they work: If a doctor in New York prescribes abortion pills via telehealth to a patient living in Texas, New York law prohibits local law enforcement or state entities from cooperating with Texas subpoenas, extraditions, or criminal investigations.Current Volume: These laws are highly effective at shifting numbers; by mid-2025, data from the #WeCount Project showed that shield-law telehealth services accounted for nearly 15,000 abortions per month nationally, serving as the primary source of care for residents in banned states.2. The Legal Counter-Offensive by Anti-Abortion StatesStates with total bans are aggressively testing new legal avenues to block out-of-state pills:Controlled Substances Acts: States like Louisiana and Mississippi passed laws classifying abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) as dangerous controlled substances. This makes possession or distribution without specific state-level licensing a severe criminal offense.Mailing Prohibitions: Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas have enacted explicit laws making it illegal to mail abortion pills into their borders.3. Federal / Supreme Court StandingA major pillar keeping shield laws functional is the status of federal regulations on the abortion pill itself. In mid-2026, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked lower court orders that attempted to severely restrict the distribution of mifepristone. The High Court’s actions preserved the FDA guidelines allowing the drug to be prescribed via telehealth and delivered via mail, effectively keeping the national network of shield-law providers operational while lower-court litigation continues.(Note: While shield laws protect the doctors, they do not shield the patients themselves from potential local state-level prosecution if they are caught self-managing an abortion, though patient-level prosecutions remain rare.)