Abortions provided by clinicians in the US dropped in the first half of 2025, report shows
By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
(CNN) — The number of abortions provided by clinicians in the United States has declined this year as the effects of new restrictions bear out and it becomes more common to manage an abortion outside the formal health care system, a new report suggests.
Abortion access has been in flux over the past three years since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion.
Abortions increased nationwide in 2023 and in 2024, despite bans implemented by more than a dozen states and other barriers. But there has been a notable decrease in 2025, according to data published Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights.
There were 5% fewer clinician-provided abortions in the first half of this year than there were in the first half of last year, the new report shows – about 4,700 fewer abortions each month, on average.
Data from the first half of the year may not reflect the final trends for the full year, and there are many factors that can affect abortion trends, but Guttmacher data shows that declines in clinician-provided abortions were largest in states that implemented bans after six weeks’ gestation and in those that border states with total abortion bans.
Out-of-state travel for an abortion is still significantly more common than it was before the Dobbs decision – about 1 in 7 people who had an abortion in the first half of 2025 crossed state lines to do so – but there was an 8% decline in such cases compared with the first half of last year.
“These trends likely reflect the impact of recent abortion restrictions, the expanding availability of medication abortion via shield law provision in states with total bans, the increasing hardship posed by travel for abortion care and growing strains on the abortion funds and support networks that help enable out-of-state travel for care,” the Guttmacher researchers wrote.
Florida was a key access point for abortion care in the US; in 2023, the first full year after the Dobbs decision, about 1 of every 3 abortions in the South and about 1 in 12 nationwide happened in Florida, according to Guttmacher data. But a six-week ban took effect in May 2024, and drastic changes followed.
There were 27% fewer clinician-provided abortions in Florida in the first half of this year than in the first half of last year, according to the new Guttmacher data. The drop in Florida – an average of about 2,000 fewer abortions each month – accounted for more than 40% of the national decrease.
“Since 2023, data from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study has consistently highlighted the devastating impact of early gestational bans on abortion access. What we see in Florida is a continuation of that trend,” Isabel DoCampo, Guttmacher Institute senior research associate, said in a statement.
Eight states have enacted shield laws offering legal protections for providers who practice in places where abortion remains legal so they can prescribe medication abortion drugs via telehealth to people living in states with bans or restrictions.
Guttmacher does not include data on abortions provided through shield laws in its reports, but the Society of Family Planning includes such information in its trends, and numbers have been steadily increasing.
Growing use of this option could partially account for some of the national decline in clinician-provided abortions and out-of-state-travel, Guttmacher researchers say. Nearly 14,000 abortions were provided through shield laws in December, according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest report.
“Shield laws and direct financial assistance for patients are necessary to help people living in restrictive states access the abortion care they need. As even more extreme threats to abortion loom, bold and decisive policy responses are more necessary than ever,” Kelly Baden, Guttmacher Institute’s vice president of public policy, said in a statement.
Federal agencies are conducting their own review into the safety and efficacy of one of the drugs used in medication abortion, driving new concerns about limits on access.
Earlier this month, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary wrote in a letter to 22 Republican attorneys general that the “Administration will ensure that women’s health is properly protected by thoroughly investigating the circumstances under which mifepristone can be safely dispensed.”
Major medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have repeatedly called for more mifepristone accessibility. But anti-abortion advocates have claimed that the drug is not safe and that the FDA didn’t study it enough. The US Supreme Court declined in June 2024 to block the drug’s availability but left the door open for future regulatory changes, placing the spotlight back on federal agencies such as the FDA.
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