Despite Dobbs Decision, Abortions Have Only Increased In The United States

Unborn babies continue to be aborted at a higher rate across the United States despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the implementation of stronger pro-life laws, according to new data.

Data released in December by the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning revealed that the number of monthly abortions continued to increase in 2025 from 2024, which was itself an increase from 2023. Much of the increase has been fueled by the widespread mailing of abortion drugs across the country, even in states with “abortion bans” in place. 

The numbers show that the battle for pro-lifers has only begun as the ubiquitous mailing of mifepristone makes ending the life of an unborn child easier than ever before. 

To address the continued increase, many pro-life advocates have urged the Trump administration to roll back Biden-era restrictions that allowed abortion pills to be sent through the mail with no in-person doctor visits. Others have shifted their efforts to changing cultural attitudes toward abortion. Senator Josh Hawley is launching a new political action committee promoting family. Some elected state Republicans and groups have pushed for laws to criminalize abortion for both the abortionist and the mother. 

The data produced by the Society for Family Planning estimated that through June 2025, there were 98,630 babies aborted every month. That was an increase from the monthly rates of 2024 (95,250), 2023 (88,180), and 2022 (79,620). The group estimated that 27% of the abortions for the available 2025 data were through telehealth, meaning they were facilitated by abortion pills sent through the mail. 

Telehealth abortions were largely taking place in the 13 states with the strongest pro-life laws. In these states, nearly all abortions are illegal with a few very limited exceptions, yet the number of abortions facilitated by mail increased from 2023 to 2024. 

Medication abortions, which are the most common abortion method, are facilitated by a woman taking mifepristone and misoprostol. After a pregnant woman takes mifepristone, the unborn child is cut off from the nutrients it needs to survive and is effectively starved to death. Misoprostol is then taken to induce labor and expel the deceased baby from the mother. 

In Louisiana, for example, there were 7,530 pill abortions in 2024 compared to 2,480 in 2023. In Texas, there were an estimated 35,870 abortions by pill in 2024 compared to 12,420 in 2023. These abortions took place despite both states having laws in place banning medication abortions. 

Both Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill have launched efforts to go after individuals in states like New York who they say have sent abortion pills into their states. Their efforts have been met with limited success as many deep blue states have passed “shield laws” to give immunity to leftist activists who mail pills into red states. 

The shield laws have proven to be a major problem for pro-life states, with about 55% of all telehealth abortions being facilitated under them, according to the data. In June 2025, about 14,770 abortions were being facilitated per month under shield laws. At the same time, medication abortion went up in all the states with bans on medication abortions in 2024. 

The numbers produced by the Society for Family Planning also don’t include abortions not facilitated through the “formal health care system,” meaning there are likely many being missed. As The Daily Wire previously reported, shady websites run by leftist activists have been mailing pills into states with no age verification or prescription requirements. 

Doug Truax, the founder of the conservative organization Restoration of America, told The Daily Wire that he was not surprised to see the numbers put out by the Society of Family Planning. 

“So now you have all these states that have banned abortion, and all these states have these rabid abortionists in them, and these abortionists are making sure they abort babies in the states where it’s banned,” he said. 

“You got abortionists in California and New York and Massachusetts, and they’re killing babies in Alabama and Texas, and everyplace else where it’s banned. And that’s why the number’s going up right now,” he added, noting that the abortion pill allowed anybody’s bathroom to be turned into an “abortion clinic.” 

Truax said that he believes many pro-lifers don’t know the full scope of the problem with the abortion pills. He is one of those arguing that the Trump administration should reinstate the in-person requirements for the mailing of the abortion pill, saying that this would significantly curb the problem. He believes it could pose a political problem for the administration if pro-lifers become convinced that no action will be taken on the abortion pill. 

The requirements were first lifted by the Biden administration as a COVID-era measure, but have yet to be reversed. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is another organization pushing the Trump administration to take action to end the mail-order abortion guidelines. 

They have called for the firing of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary over the alleged slow-walking of a study on the dangers of the abortion pill. Pro-lifers were also shocked in September after the FDA approved another generic form of mifepristone, making the abortion drug more readily available. 

“I would like to believe that the number of abortions have decreased since the state started enacting pro-life laws, but every data point that we have, essentially, that’s national in scope or multiple states, is showing that’s not the case, and that this mail order abortion policy from Joe Biden is responsible for increasing the number of abortions in the U.S,” SBA Pro-Life America Communications Director Kelsey Pritchard told The Daily Wire. 

Pritchard said that the FDA’s failure to reverse the Biden-era regulations was subverting state laws banning medication abortions. 

“Essentially, the Biden rule enables Gavin Newsom, Kathy Hochul, JD Pritzker, all of these blue states, to undermine pro-life laws by allowing their abortionists to mail in these pills that are not only killing the babies, but putting women in hospitals and enabling abusers to poison and coerce women,” she said. 

Already, multiple Republican-led states have sued the FDA over the rule, arguing that it interferes with their efforts to protect the unborn. In December 2025, Florida and Texas filed a suit challenging the FDA, saying that its “approval and deregulation of abortion drugs have placed women and girls in harm’s way.”

Republicans in Congress have also called for a repeal of the Biden rules, with 175 House Republicans writing a letter to yank the regulations and 51 Senate Republicans urging the FDA to reconsider its approval of the generic abortion drug. 

When asked whether there would be a rollback on the mailing of abortion pills in 2026, the FDA told The Daily Wire it cannot comment on “future or potential policy decisions.” 

At the state level, some Republican lawmakers from Georgia to North Dakota to Missouri introduced “equal protection” bills in 2025 that would criminalize abortion not only for the abortionist, but anyone involved in the abortion, including the mother. They believe that these kinds of bills would be more effective at eliminating abortion and provide equal protection to unborn babies. 

“Many red states with so-called abortion bans are seeing higher abortion levels because their bans are no bans at all,” Bradley Pierce, a constitutional lawyer and president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, told The Daily Wire. “All of these so-called bans have explicit loopholes allowing women to order, possess, and take abortion pills. Because there is no law prohibiting these self-induced abortions, and in fact they are protected by law, we are witnessing the current increase even in states that shut down their abortion facilities.”

Pierce said that unborn babies should receive the same protection that any other human being receives under the law. 

“We need equal protection of the laws for preborn babies, meaning that the same homicide laws protecting the lives of born people are extended to protect preborn people as well,” he said. “Without this standard, preborn image-bearers of God will remain unprotected, even in the most conservative states in our country.”

While a minority position among elected officials, Pierce noted that in 2025, there were 17 equal protection bills across 15 states sponsored by 123 lawmakers across the country, and a record number of hearings and votes on the legislation.

Aside from the problem of mail-order abortions, pro-lifers will also have to grapple with the increasing number of travel abortions. Tens of thousands of women have traveled out of their home state for abortions over the last few years. According to the data, women traveling out of states for abortions declined for the most part across the thirteen states with the strongest pro-life laws from 2023 to 2024, but the number was still significant. 

The data is clear that many Americans are still able to access abortion with relative ease despite the fall of Roe. To address cultural attitudes toward abortion, Senator Josh Hawley and his wife, Erin, a constitutional lawyer, created a nonprofit called the Love Life Initiative. The group will run pro-family national ad campaigns to encourage Americans to raise families and defend life at all stages of development. The group will also promote pro-life ballot campaigns and fight against pro-abortion ballot petitions.

“We believe there needs to be a strong voice advocating for life and making it easier to start a family,” Senator Hawley said. “That is fundamental to who we are as Americans and the future of our country. And it is how we will be judged as a society. This is a generational project, not just about the next election cycle.”