Without telehealth, one in seven women would have to drive over 200 miles to the nearest provider

The Supreme Court rejected an effort seeking to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling that a group of antiabortion doctors who filed suit had no legal standing to challenge Food and Drug Administration regulations for prescribing the drug. Telehealth for medication abortion became available in 2020 when the FDA stopped enforcing its in-person dispensing requirement and allowed certified mail-order pharmacies to ship pills to patients during the pandemic. These changes became permanent in 2023, when the agency also allowed certified bricks-and-mortar pharmacies to dispense the pills for the first time. In September 2023, some 16% of all abortions within the formal U.S. healthcare system were performed via telehealth, according to WeCount, an abortion-data project sponsored by the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion rights. Twenty-six states and D.C. allow telehealth for medication abortion. The remaining states have restrictions that supersede federal guidance: 14 ban abortion throughout pregnancy, and the remaining 10 have various combinations of in-person requirements, such as mandatory ultrasounds and visits to doctors and counselors.

Patients in states that don’t permit abortions can currently turn to telehealth providers in many other states.

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