telemedicine abortions

From the moment that Roe v. Wade was overturned, the question was just how much the change would reduce abortions across the United States. Now, more than a year later, the numbers are in.

Margot Sanger-Katz, who writes about health care for The Upshot, explains why the results are not what anyone had expected.

Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The first estimate of births since Dobbs found that almost a quarter of women who would have gotten abortions in states that banned it carried their pregnancies to term.
• The first full-year census of U.S. abortion providers showed significant increases in abortion in states where it’s legal.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In states where abortion is severely limited or illegal, clinicians face imminent prosecution if they continue to provide abortions. What is much less clear is what happens if providers in blue states offer telemedicine abortions to women in states where that’s against the law. These clinicians, too, could be arrested or sued or lose their medical licenses. To protect themselves, they may have to give up traveling to certain parts of the country — and it’s still no guarantee.

In the face of so much uncertainty and an invigorated anti-abortion movement, large organizations and most clinicians are loath to gamble.

But some providers think that the end of Roe v. Wade calls for doctors to take bold action.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.