Guttmacher 2025: Abortions 'largely unchanged' with help from 'telehealth across state lines'

New abortion data for 2025 published by the Guttmacher Institute estimates that "1,126,000 abortions were provided by US clinicians in 2025" — an increase of about 0.18% (less than two-tenths of a percent) from abortion totals estimated for 2024.

Though this percentage seems very small and is presented as "largely unchanged" by Guttmacher, it represents the deaths of approximately 2,000 more preborn children than 2024.

In addition, Guttmacher's Monthly Abortion Provision Study data is underestimated and exclude "any abortions provided in states with total bans (through shield law provision, community health networks, online pharmacies or other means), and therefore represent an underestimate of the total number of abortions nationally."

In past years, Guttmacher did not include abortions committed in states with "total bans" on abortion; however, in its most current March 2026 report of 2025 abortion data, Guttmacher specified that:

For the first time, these include estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans; the report also updates prior year estimates to include these states.

Key Takeaways:

• The Guttmacher Institute states that abortion numbers from 2024 to 2025 were "largely unchanged," with a 0.18% increase — which equates to about 2,000 more preborn children.

• Prior to 2025, Guttmacher did not include "estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans," and now does; Guttmacher notes that "the report also updates prior year estimates to include these states."

• Guttmacher has noted that "telehealth abortion" is driving the increase in abortions.

• Dr. Michael New noted at National Review that the current FDA has done nothing to halt the mail-order distribution of the abortion pill (which is federally illegal yet unenforced), which has allowed these deaths to proliferate.

• Guttmacher says its data is likely an undercount, because it does not include data about advance provision of abortion pills (which is not FDA-approved), the number of abortions provided under "exceptions" to pro-life laws, or abortions "not provided by US clinicians" which would include the ordering of the abortion pill through a website.

The Details:

Estimated 2025 totals

Last year, Guttmacher released preliminary data, estimating that abortion data for the first six months of 2025 showed a 5% decline from the same timeframe in 2024. Live Action News warned that this six-month estimate should not be used to interpret any sort of decline in the number of abortions in the United States, in part because the numbers are an estimate and do not reflect all abortions potentially committed.

Most recently, in March of 2026, Guttmacher reported:

There were an estimated 1,126,000 abortions provided by clinicians in the United States in 2025, largely unchanged from the estimated 1,124,000 provided in 2024 

This is the highest number of abortions provided in the United States since 2009; however, it is still well below the historical peak of slightly over 1.6 million abortions in 1990.

Those estimated 2025 totals (1,126,000) reflect nearly 3,085 preborn babies aborted per day, 21,654 per week, and nearly 94,000 per month.

"The Monthly Abortion Provision Study estimates the number of clinician-provided abortions that take place every month in each US state and nationally. The study collects data on procedural and medication abortions provided at brick-and-mortar health facilities (such as clinics or doctor’s offices), as well as medication abortions provided via telehealth," wrote Guttmacher.

It added, "For the first time, these include estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans."

Guttmacher pointed out that "by the end of 2025"...

• "13 states had total abortion bans (with limited exceptions) in effect"

• "Six states had six- or twelve-week abortion bans."

• "A series of blocked and reinstated abortion restrictions in Missouri created major obstacles for people seeking in-person care there, despite a 2024 state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights."

• "Many residents of states with severe restrictions or total bans obtained care via telehealth from providers in states with shield law protections while others traveled out of state for care."

Guttmacher also noted that, though nationally, abortion numbers remained stable...

• "in states without total bans, the number of abortions declined slightly, from 1,049,000 to 1,036,000"

• "in states with total bans, telehealth provision continued to increase (from 74,000 to 91,000)."

Abortion pills tied to increase

Guttmacher authors previously acknowledged that the reason abortions have spiked in recent years is due to the abortion pill — specifically the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) erosions of safety regulations removing the in-person dispensing requirement and enabling the drug to be shipped by mail.

The 2025 report by Guttmacher not only referred to shield laws (which protect individuals from penalty when they break the laws of other states with abortion restrictions) as "vital" to access, but it acknowledged that abortions by telehealth are playing a role in increasing abortion numbers:

Telehealth across state lines has played an increasingly critical role in ensuring access to abortion care in a national landscape where many states have total bans or other restrictive policies. This care has been facilitated by states’ adoption of shield laws protecting telehealth provision, and by the providers whose resilience has helped establish extensive care networks.

... Eight states (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) extend these protections regardless of where the patient is located, allowing clinicians in shield law states to offer abortion care via telehealth to patients in other states, including states with total abortion bans.

Extending shield laws to telehealth provision is vital to ensuring that patients can continue to access the care they need, especially if they live in states with total abortion bans. 

This has prompted several states to file multiple lawsuits.

Abortion data 'underestimated'

Guttmacher began publishing abortion data in 1973 and previously utilized responses to surveys it sent to abortion providers for its abortion reports. However, following the Dobbs decision in 2022, Guttmacher began estimating abortion data on a monthly basis, and its numbers are less reliable than in the past and are subject to change.

This is in part because the pro-abortion organization previously noted that it does "not collect data on self-managed abortions" — which it previously defined as "abortions that are not provided by a US clinician."

In addition, previous reports claimed that "estimates do not currently include medication abortions provided under the protection of shield laws to a patient in a state where abortion is completely banned," Guttmacher wrote.

However, for 2025 data, Guttmacher reported that, "For the first time, these include estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans; the report also updates prior year estimates to include these states," the March 2026 report stated.

Guttmacher excluded the following from its 2025 data:

• Advance provision of abortion pills.

• Number of abortions provided under exceptions to "total bans."

• Abortions that are not provided by US clinicians (including those provided through community health networks, international clinics, websites or other means).

"These exclusions mean that these findings represent an underestimate of the total number of abortions nationally," Guttmacher wrote of the latest report.

Abortion pill estimates

Guttmacher’s estimated abortion data analysis for 2023 (released in February 2025) revealed a whopping 648,500 abortion pill abortions for that year.

In March of 2024, Guttmacher estimated that the abortion pill had accounted for 63% of abortions, an extremely conservative percentage today.

However, using this percentage we calculate abortions done by pill as follows:

2024: 708,120 or more (updated from a previous estimate of 664,000).

2025: 709,380 or more which translates to 59,115 abortions by pill per month, 1,944 a day, 81 hourly, and one abortion pill abortion every 44 seconds.

As Guttmacher's abortion numbers are only an "estimation," and it in past reports they stated they did " not collect data on self-managed abortions" which "are not provided by a US clinician,” the numbers are almost certainly higher.

The March 2026 report claims to now include "estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans; the report also updates prior year estimates to include these states."

Abortion travel decreased

Abortion travel was down, claimed Guttmacher: 142,000 in 2025 v. 154,000 in 2024 and 170,000 in 2023.

However, "This decline in travel out of state for care coincided with a large increase in telehealth provision in these same states," Guttmacher wrote.

Still, Guttmacher claimed that "The 62,000 people who traveled for care from states with total bans in 2025 is more than double the number who traveled from these states prior to Dobbs (which ranged from 19,000 to 25,000 in 2013‒2020)."

"These efforts have been aided by states that have allocated funds for patients’ medical and logistical needs, as well as states that have provided additional legal protections for abortion funds and practical support groups," Guttmacher added.

The Big Picture:

Beginning in 2017, the United States saw the end of a long-term decline in abortions, with numbers beginning to tick upward once again each year. By 2020, abortions totaled 930,160 — an increase of nearly 8% from 2017.

Then, in May of 2024, the Guttmacher Institute (once the research arm and "special affiliate" of Planned Parenthood) updated its total abortion estimate for 2023, revealing that 1,037,000 abortions (updated to 1,059,610 in 2026) were recorded by the formal health care system that year (which did not include chemical abortions obtained from online pharmacies, etc.).

This time, the increase over three years was in the double digits, revealing a spike of 11.5% from 2020.

In April 2025, Guttmacher published a Monthly Abortion Provision Study for 2024 showing “1,038,100 clinician-provided abortions in states without total abortion bans in 2024, an increase of less than 1% from 2023.” This was higher than its previous 2024 estimate published in March.

At that time, Guttmacher claimed that “[t]he overall stability in the number of abortions in states without total bans continued despite shifts in policy that have increased obstacles to accessing this care in many states.”

In November 2025 they again updated, estimating 1,053,470 abortions were committed in 2024. Of that number, 76,310 abortions were committed via telehealth to states with total bans, according to estimates from the Society of Family Planning (SFP). At that time they also estimated 518,940 abortions had been committed in the first six months of 2025.

The March 2026 report specified that, "for the first time"...

• data "include estimates of telehealth provision to residents of states with total bans"

• "the report also updates prior year estimates to include these states"

The updated estimated abortion numbers are as follows:

• 2023: 1,059,610 (updated to 2,900 abortions per day, nearly 20.4K per week, and over 88.3K per month), a 14% increase from 2020.

• 2024: 1,124,000 (1,123,600), which breaks down to nearly 3,080 reported abortions per day, 21,615 per week, and nearly 94K a month for that year, nearly a 21% increase from 2020.

• 2025: 1,126,000 (1,125,930), which breaks down to nearly 3,085 reported abortions per day, 21,654 per week, and nearly 94K a month for that year, more than a 21% increase from 2020.

Commentary:

Dr. Michael New emphasized at National Review:

Overall, this new Guttmacher report provides further evidence that stopping telehealth abortions needs to be a top priority for pro-lifers. Multiple analyses of state-level birth data have shown that recently enacted pro-life laws have saved thousands of lives.

However, data from Guttmacher and other organizations show that these pro-life laws are being undermined by the large and growing number of telehealth abortions.

Dr. New concludes, "Sadly, the lack of action taken by Trump administration FDA on telehealth abortions has been detrimental to the health of women and fatal to countless preborn children."

It has been illegal (yet unenforced) for quite some time to mail abortion-inducing drugs and devices through the U.S. mail due to the Comstock Act.

The Bottom Line:

Tragically, the latest totals brings the overall number of abortions (1973-2025) to an estimated total of over 65.3 million in the U.S.