Abortion rate more than doubled in Massachusetts due to mail order abortion pills

The number of abortions in Massachusetts more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, from 24,355 to 49,450. The cause appears to be the number of out-of-state women receiving the abortion pill from abortionists in Massachusetts under the state's pro-abortion shield laws.

Key Takeaways:

• The number of abortions in Massachusetts more than doubled from 2023 to 2024.

• In 2023, there were 24,355 abortions by Massachusetts abortionists, and in 2024, that number rose to 49,450.

• Mail-order abortion drugs appear to be to blame for the rise, with 30,902 telehealth abortions being carried out on women from out of state in 2025.

• 18,548 abortions were committed on women in Massachusetts in 2025, with 104 of those carried out through telehealth.

The Details:

A recent report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health revealed that abortions have more than doubled in the Bay State, with 82% committed by the abortion pill. Over half of these abortions were on out-of-state women who were sent abortion pills by mail from Massachusetts.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has worked to ensure the state would be a sanctuary for abortion, and is protecting abortionists in the state to send abortion drugs into states where abortion is restricted. The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (MAP) is an organization created for exactly this purpose. Volunteers with MAP shipped 11,000 abortion pills in 2024 alone.

“What a huge role a small state like Massachusetts is playing in ensuring that women and other pregnancy capable people throughout the country are getting the abortion care they need,” said Dr. Angel Foster, who co-founded the MAP. 

Data shows that Massachusetts provided out-of-state telehealth “abortion care” to 30,902 women in 2024 compared to just 5,723 in 2023.

In addition, as reported by the New Bedford Guide, Massachusetts law requires insurers to cover abortion and abortion-related services, and federal health officials announced there is a "compliance review" underway regarding that mandate.

It explained:

Invoking a federal health care "conscience" law known as the Weldon Amendment, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it is probing whether 13 states "are allegedly coercing health care entities to provide coverage of, or pay for, abortion contrary to conscience." That includes Massachusetts.

Commentary:

Myrna Maloney Flynn, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, notes that the startling abortion increase is reflective of the trends being seen with remote chemical abortions.

“While the governor insists that abortion is not only health care but a human right as well, Massachusetts Citizens for Life maintains that life itself is the first and most important human right,” Flynn said. “And we have learned once again that our state consistently denies this basic human right to our most vulnerable.”

Flynn also pointed out that the DPH is not clearly identifying the data on the women who are being prescribed these medications via telehealth.

“It’s critical to note, however, that the state isn’t ‘hiding’ information,” Flynn said. “The truth is far worse than that: the state can’t report on which women are having abortions because it does not know anything about these women, and neither do the abortionists who prescribe mifepristone.”

Zoom Out:

Abortion shield laws have been instituted in 18 states and Washington, DC.

Currently, a Texas judge has granted an injunction to halt New York abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter from prescribing and sending abortion pills to patients in Texas, and imposed a rule allowing private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, or provides abortion pills to a Texas resident, with a minimum fine of $100,000 per violation. Thus far, New York's "shield law" has protected Carpenter, despite the injuries that were caused to women by the mailed drugs.

The case against Carpenter is expected to make its way through the courts and could create a ripple effect in other pro-life states.

Health Law & Policy Brief: Washington College of Law Managing Editor Mia Simon wrote that this "could be the final nail in the coffin for abortion access in much of the country, and abortion providers acting under the protection of [shield] laws could find themselves in legal jeopardy.”