US telehealth abortions increased in 1st half of 2025: Report
Abortions provided through telehealth appointments accounted for an estimated 27% of abortions provided in the U.S. from January to June 2025, according to new data released Tuesday.
The percentage of abortions provided via telehealth increased compared to recent years, up from 25% at the end of 2024 and from 5% in spring 2022, according to the data from the Society of Family Planning (SFP), a nonprofit specializing in abortion and contraceptive science.
This estimate suggests that telehealth and providers working under abortion shield laws continue to facilitate greater access to abortion care, according to SFP. The report estimates an average of nearly 15,000 abortions per month were provided under shield laws from January to June 2025.
"Telehealth has become a lifeline for people accessing abortion care, especially those in states with abortion bans," said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, Society of Family Planning #WeCount co-chair and professor at the University of California, San Francisco's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health.
A number of states that protect access to abortion have passed shield laws protecting abortion providers from being prosecuted by states that ban the procedure. Shield laws have also been passed to protect those who travel to obtain abortions where it is legal.
By June 2025, an estimated 55% of telehealth abortions were provided under shield laws, according to the SFP.
Licensed clinicians in the U.S. provided over 591,000 abortions in the first half of the year, the SFP report estimates. The estimated monthly average number of abortions per month in the U.S. was 99,000 per month, compared to 80,000 in 2022, the report says.
"Counts are likely an underrepresentation of all abortions in the US," according to the report.
The data are incomplete in some places and therefore are imputed, the report says.
Across the U.S., the majority of abortions occurred in person in the first half of the year, according to SFP.
The organization said it began counting number of abortions completed in the U.S. by month and state in April 2022, weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion.
At least 23 states currently have abortion restrictions in effect, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
