Growing number seek abortion medications prior to pregnancy

 Axios - A growing number of people are requesting abortion medications before they're pregnant, a shift driven in part by fears of future abortion bans, a study suggests. The number of states enforcing near-total abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 has varied, but as of last month, 41 states have either restrictions on abortions after a certain point in pregnancy or near total bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

For the study, published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers analyzed medical records from more than 20,000 patients across 25 states who received abortion pills via the telehealth service Aid Access between August 2021 and March 2023.

• Advance provision users were mostly white (72%), child-free (80%) and living in metro areas, not lower-resource counties, per the study.
• Among them, 70% said they feared future legal restrictions, the study found.