Over half of all abortions in the United States are now reportedly done using pills, as abortion became the leading cause of death around the world last year.

“In 2020, pills accounted for 54% of all U.S. abortions, up from roughly 44% in 2019,” the Associated Press (AP) reported Thursday, citing data from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion organization.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone, that coupled with misoprostol became known as the “abortion pill,” also called medication abortion. The institute details statistics on its use:

Specifically, preliminary data from the Guttmacher Institute’s periodic census of all known abortion providers show that in 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54% of US abortions. That year is the first time medication abortion crossed the threshold to become the majority of all abortions and it is a significant jump from 39% in 2017, when Guttmacher last reported these data. This 54% estimate is based on preliminary findings from ongoing data collection; final estimates will be released in late 2022 and the proportion for medication abortion use is not expected to fall below 50%.

Meanwhile, abortion became the leading cause of death around the world in 2021, with approximately 43 million unborn children killed while they were still in the womb, data from Worldometer showed.

“As of noon on December 31, 2021, there were 42.6 million abortions performed in the course of the year, Worldometer revealed, while 8.2 million people died from cancer, 5 million from smoking, 1.7 million of HIV/AIDS, 1.3 million from traffic fatalities, and 1 million from suicide,” Breitbart News reported.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the FDA eased up on the rules requiring in-person evaluations for drug-induced abortions. “The abortion industry and its allies quickly readied tele-abortion services to be utilized on a permanent basis,” the outlet said.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortion has grown into the “most common method of abortion,” adding there was “still the potential to further increase access.”

In January, a Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll revealed that 71 percent of Americans support legal limits regarding abortion.