Medication abortions conducted through telemedicine accounted for roughly 25% of all U.S. abortions by the end of 2024, according to research released Monday in JAMA. The analysis reviewed more than 118,000 prescriptions written by Aid Access, one of the nation’s largest telehealth abortion providers, between July 2023 and September 2024. The study found that 84% of Aid Access prescriptions went to patients living in states with near-total abortion bans or explicit prohibitions on telemedicine abortion. Utilisation rates were highest in southern and Midwestern counties where residents faced long travel distances, high poverty levels, or both. Separate data from the Society of Family Planning show telehealth clinicians now provide an average of more than 12,000 medication abortions each month to patients in states that restrict in-person care. Researchers said the figures underscore how shield-law states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision to drop the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone have re-shaped access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Anti-abortion groups and some lawmakers are pressing to curb remote prescribing, and a Louisiana-Texas case against telehealth physician Maggie Carpenter—currently protected by New York’s shield law—illustrates the mounting legal clash over cross-state care.