LOS ANGELES — Less than a quarter of a century ago, abortion pills could not be legally obtained from a U.S.-based medical provider.

Now, they are the most common method of terminating a pregnancy — used by 3 out of 5 abortion patients in the U.S.

Americans' use of medication abortion has rapidly expanded since 2000, when the FDA approved the use of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in the most common medication abortion regimen.

Over the last eight years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has steadily relaxed its rules to allow patients to take mifepristone up to 10 weeks into pregnancy and receive it by mail after a telemedicine appointment.

Abortion care has begun to shift from in-person visits to the mailbox. Just four years ago, there were no online-only U.S. abortion clinics dispensing abortion pills. But during the COVID-19 pandemic — and after the Supreme Court's 2022 overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion — virtual abortion clinics began to take on an increasingly significant role.

If the Supreme Court decides to order a reversal of recent FDA rules, limiting patients from obtaining mifepristone at pharmacies or through the mail without an in-person visit, abortion services could be restricted even in blue states like California.

Here are some of the numbers on abortion pill usage in the U.S.:

How many medication abortions take place each year in the U.S.?

About 642,700 medication abortions took place in 2023 within the formal healthcare system, according to the Monthly Abortion Provision Study from the Guttmacher Institute, a Washington based nonprofit research group committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health in the U.S.

This number is likely an undercount, as it does not include self-managed medication abortions outside of the formal healthcare system or abortion pills mailed to anyone in the 14 states where abortion is banned.

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