Colorado, one of the most pro-abortion states in the country, is “a leading provider nationwide of abortions through telehealth clinics,” Axios reported on Monday.
The share of abortion pills provided via telehealth in Colorado increased to 20 percent in March 2023, up from 14 percent in April 2022, according to the report, which cited the Society of Family Planning. The proportion of telehealth abortions in the state is three times the national average of 7.4 percent.
Pro-abortion activists told the outlet the percentage is expected to increase in the coming months because Democrat Gov. Jared Polis and Democrat lawmakers made the state an “abortion haven” and passed legislation undermining pro-life states by providing immunity to abortionists who provide services online to clients in other states.
The report notes that mail-order abortion pill prescriptions increased during the coronavirus pandemic and continued to increase after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notably made a rule change allowing the abortion pill to be mailed directly to patients and allowed medical professionals other than doctors to prescribe mifepristone.
“How it works: About two dozen states allow medication abortions through telehealth physicians, according to Plan C, a [pro-abortion] organization,” the report said. “The options vary by provider and state law, but most people opt for completing online forms and receiving approval without an in-person or virtual appointment.”
The future of telehealth abortions is up for debate, however. A federal appeals court issued an order earlier this month halting two FDA actions that loosened restrictions around mifepristone, the first pill used in a two-drug chemical abortion regimen.
A three-judge panel of the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the FDA’s 2016 decision to allow the abortion pill to be taken later in pregnancy is unlawful. The court said the same of the FDA’s aforementioned 2021 rule change.
Despite the court’s ruling, mifepristone will remain available, for now, under existing regulations while litigation continues. The Supreme Court preemptively paused any ruling from an appeals court this spring in the larger lawsuit, pending a petition for the Supreme Court to take the case. If the Supreme Court does not take the case, the Fifth Circuit’s order will go into effect.
The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute found that mifepristone is used for more than half of all abortions in the United States. In 2020, the drug accounted for 53 percent of all abortions, up from 39 percent in 2017.
According to former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.
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