Abortion pill use has spiked in recent years, new report reveals: ‘Substantial increase’

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Since 2020, the prevalence of medication abortions — triggered by what’s known as the abortion pill — has risen 10%.

Medication abortions made up 63% of all abortions performed in the U.S. in 2023, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization headquartered in New York.

Some 642,700 medication abortions were performed last year.

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The data came from Guttmacher’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study, which monitors the estimated number of abortions performed on a state and national basis.

What is medication abortion?

With medication abortion, a woman terminates her pregnancy by taking two different medications — mifepristone and misoprostol — over a period of a couple of days, according to the Yale Medicine website.

The woman first takes a medication called mifepristone, which blocks the production of progesterone, a hormone that supports pregnancy.

The second medication, misoprostol, triggers contractions — and kickstarts the process of miscarriage. That process usually takes between 12 and 24 hours.

The abortion pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. It can be administered within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

PASTOR GREG