A study has revealed that telemedicine is guaranteeing women's abortion rights in the U.S., which were overturned by a court. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which allowed abortion, in 2022, allowing each state to decide on the legality of abortion.
Dr. Abigail Aiken and her research team from the University of Texas at Austin's School of Public Affairs noted on the 12th in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that demand for prescriptions of abortion pills via telemedicine has increased even after the ruling that restricts abortion rights. For pregnancies under 14 weeks, doctors prescribe the pills remotely, which are then mailed from pharmacies.
The nonprofit organization Aid Access delivered 118,338 abortion pills to 2,649 counties in the U.S. from July 2023 to September of the previous year. Among these, a quarter were prescribed through telemedicine. The researchers stated that prescribing abortion pills remotely has been shown to be safe and effective, just like in-person care.
Particularly, there were many cases of mailing abortion pills to the southern and midwestern U.S., where abortions are prohibited. It is analyzed that instead of traveling to another area for an abortion procedure, individuals received abortion pills locally. Some states have introduced Shield Laws following the overturning of the Roe v. Wade ruling. These laws protect healthcare providers who prescribe and deliver abortion pills to individuals living in areas where abortion is banned.
Mifepristone is the representative abortion pill used in the U.S. It can be taken up to 10 weeks (70 days) of pregnancy. A blood test cannot distinguish whether a person took the abortion pill or experienced a natural miscarriage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone in 2000 and authorized telemedicine and mailing delivery in 2016 and 2021. Abortion pill delivery is not permitted domestically.
References
JAMA (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2025.11420