Despite Restrictive State Laws, Number Of Abortions In US Remains Consistent
An estimated 1,126,000 people ended pregnancies in 2025, roughly the same number as in 2024, according to a Guttmacher Institute report. More people relied on telemedicine and fewer people were forced to travel to obtain abortions, the report suggests.
Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, anti-abortion rights advocates have continuously pursued laws and court cases to make access to abortion more difficult. A report published Tuesday finds those efforts haven't worked in one basic way: the number of abortions in the country hasn't budged. (Simmons-Duffin, 3/24)
Also 鈥
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion clinic doctor sentenced to life for killing three babies who had been delivered alive, died earlier this month at a Pennsylvania hospital, prison officials said Monday. Gosnell鈥檚 grimy West Philadelphia clinic became known as the 鈥渉ouse of horrors.鈥 Former employees testified he routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania鈥檚 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants dispatched the newborns by 鈥渟nipping鈥 their spines, as he referred to it. (3/23)
A woman who took medication to induce an abortion, and then delivered the baby, was arrested on a murder charge. But on Monday, a state judge expressed deep skepticism about the case. (Rojas, Belluck and Cooper Eastman, 3/23)
As states that already ban abortion look to further restrict access this year, much of the focus is on pills sent by out-of-state providers. A survey released Tuesday helps explain the emphasis. It suggests that more women in states with bans obtained abortions last year using the pills prescribed via telehealth than by traveling to places where it鈥檚 legal. (Mulvihill, 3/24)