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Survey: Louisiana's abortion numbers rose in 2023 thanks to pills by mail

FILE - A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion on, Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Charlie Riedel
/
AP
FILE - A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion on, Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Despite the state’s near-total ban, more people may have had abortions in Louisiana last year with thousands of women getting abortion medications through the mail, according to new data from #WeCount.

The survey, conducted by the Society of Family Planning, found that 4,180 Louisianians had an abortion in the first six months of 2023. Of those, 60% — or 2,480 patients — gave themselves an abortion after receiving medication through the mail from clinicians in states where abortion remains legal. Another 1,700 patients traveled out of state for an abortion.

The data also found more women accessed abortions last year than in 2020, when they were legal.

“I think that there is a lot of unmet need that existed previously,” said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, #WeCount Co-Chair and professor at the University of California at San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). “And I do think that telehealth has made it easier for some people to access care.”

Researchers included data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute and counted 375 more abortions in Louisiana during the first half of 2023 than there were over the same period in 2020, when women could go to clinics.

The data from both years did not include abortion pills obtained through community networks inside Louisiana or online pharmacies, meaning the total number of abortions could be higher. This was the first #WeCount survey to include telemedicine abortion data for states with abortion bans.

Overall, there were 617 abortions per month in the Pelican State in the first half of 2023, the survey estimates.

Abortions also rose across the U.S. in the second quarter of 2024, up 10% compared to the same period in 2023, Upadhyay said. Telemedicine abortions rose 145% over the same period, from 24,640 to 60,270.

Upadhyay cautioned that the rate of abortions in states with bans does not mean everyone who wants an abortion is able to obtain one. A study published last year estimated that there were more births in states with abortion bans than there would have been if those bans were not in effect.


Louisiana sees the highest rate of telemedicine abortion

Louisiana saw the highest rate of telemedicine abortion among all states with bans in the first half of 2023, including all other Gulf South states.

“It's actually not surprising, because Louisiana is probably the state with the longest distances to the nearest abortion provider,” Upadhyay said.

Along with Texas, people in Louisiana live furthest from abortion clinics, more than an 8-hour trip one-way, according to previous ANSIRH research.

In Mississippi, roughly half of women traveled out of state for an abortion, and half obtained pills from providers via the mail (1,570 and 1,735 respectively, for a total of 3,305). There were 1,720 telemedicine abortions in Alabama, compared to 3,395 patients who traveled out of state, for a total of 5,115 abortions. In both states, just as in Louisiana, the total number of abortions grew compared to 2020 data.

The survey underlines just how crucial telemedicine has become in providing abortion access in states with bans, where lawmakers have not specifically criminalized women who give themselves abortions. A separate study found that medication abortions accounted for 63% of all abortions in 2023.

Earlier this month, Louisiana became the first state to reclassify misoprostol and mifepristone, the two medications used to induce an abortion, as controlled dangerous substances. The Republican-dominated legislature and anti-abortion groups said the law would crack down on women’s access to the pills. They argued the pills pose a public health risk, though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found in 2021 that abortion pills are safe to take via telemedicine. A study released earlier this year came to the same conclusion.

Like the state’s abortion ban, Louisiana’s new law specifically exempts pregnant women from criminal liability. Instead, abortion rights supporters argue the law is meant to create a chilling effect, creating fear among women who might order the pills online.


Fate of telemedicine abortion tied to 2024 elections

The data comes amidst a heated presidential campaign where access to medication abortion may be on the line.

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a second term for former President Donald Trump, supports reviving an 1870s law called the Comstock Act, which could ban abortions nationwide because it outlaws the mailing of anything that is “intended for producing abortion."

Project 2025 also calls on a future Republican administration to force the FDA to “reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs,” pulling mifepristone from the market entirely.

Multiple news organizations have documented the close ties between Trump allies and former administration officials and the drafters of Project 2025.

Rosemary Westwood is the public and reproductive health reporter for WWNO/WRKF. She was previously a freelance writer specializing in gender and reproductive rights, a radio producer, columnist, magazine writer and podcast host.