By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters] – More than half of US abortions were performed by medication as of 2020. That’s a major increase over prior years due to the increased availability of pills and difficulty obtaining surgical abortions.

A Guttmacher Institute survey, which is an advocacy organization for abortion rights, found that fifty-four per cent of all abortions in 2020 were done using the two pill method.

Guttmacher’s 2017 report that 39% of all abortions had been performed using medication showed an increase in the data. Each three-year period, data is collected from U.S. doctors who perform abortions.

The future access to medication abortion in the United States is essential for reproductive rights advocates. It allows women to have abortions without having to travel long distances and with little financial risk.

As soon as spring arrives, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely rule on a Mississippi law which bans abortion at fifteen weeks. With its conservative 6-3 majority, the court has indicated its willingness to allow that ban to stand. This ruling would invalidate 1973 Roe v. Wade, which established that a woman can end a pregnancy at any time before 24 weeks. A couple dozen states will quickly move to prohibit abortion if Roe gets overturned.

Elizabeth Nash (a Guttmacher state policy expert), said that patients who live in countries where abortion is illegal may be able access medical abortion online. It may prove easier for many to obtain abortion care online than to travel hundreds of kilometers to reach a clinic.

Pro-abortion activists see restricting access to abortion pills as another front in the fight against abortion. Guttmacher reports that at least 16 states have already introduced legislation this year to restrict or ban the use of abortion pills.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of medication to end a 10-week-old pregnancy in 2000. This involves taking two medications in one day. First, the progesterone-preserving hormone mifepristone is blocked by mifepristone. Mifepristone blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone progesterone. Misoprostol causes uterine contractions.

The FDA has been restricting the availability of abortion medication for years. For example, it required that mifepristone be administered in person rather than being sent electronically. When the COVID-19 epidemic made it impossible to access in-person healthcare, the FDA relaxed its restrictions. In December 2021 the FDA permanently lifted all previous restrictions regarding the pill. The drug can now be prescribed via telemedicine by licensed providers and shipped by mail.

Some states have laws that restrict access to medication abortion. Telemedicine is prohibited in 19 states. The physician who prescribed the pills must present to administer them.