U.S. states with the most restrictive policies surrounding abortion had higher volumes of requests for abortion medications via online telemedicine services, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin examined consultation forms of requests for medications from an online abortion telemedicine service by U.S. residents, between Oct. 15, 2017, and Aug. 15, 2018. The online service does not ship abortion medications to the U.S., but receives requests from U.S. residents.
During the study period, 6,022 people requested abortion medications from the services. Seventy-six percent of the requests came from people living in states with restrictive abortion policies, while only 24 percent came from people living in states with more supportive abortion policies.
The highest rate of requests came from Mississippi followed by Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. The lowest rate of requests came from New Hampshire.
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