The Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the Planned Parenthood abortion giant, recently released data suggesting a decline in abortions carried out by abortionists since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. While this might initially appear as a victory for pro-life advocates, deeper scrutiny reveals a more complex reality. On Tuesday’s “Washington Watch,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins interviewed Michael New, senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, to unpack the findings.
Perkins urged caution, advising pro-lifers to take the study “with a grain of salt.” The primary reason being that Guttmacher’s data excludes abortions via abortion pills, which now account for approximately 63% of all abortions. “So,” Perkins noted, “this may not be an accurate picture.”
New concurred, stating, “No, I certainly don’t think it’s an accurate picture at all.” He described the current abortion landscape as “the Wild West,” highlighting how “women [are] getting telehealth abortions, ordering pills from other states with shield laws that aren’t reporting.” He added that some women even order pills from overseas. “So,” he added, “the data presented by Guttmacher is not the complete picture. I’m not confident at all that numbers actually are … going down.”
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Perkins pointed to conflicting data suggesting an increase in abortions. “There was some data [Guttmacher] put out earlier on the abortion pill that showed their numbers of abortion, prior to Dobbs, being about 930,000 a year, now up to almost 1.1 million,” he said. He noted that despite the closure of several Planned Parenthood facilities due to defunding through President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” pro-abortion advocates claim access to abortions has diminished. Yet, Perkins argued, “all indications are abortion has actually gone up in the country.”
“Long term,” New chimed in, “there’s certainly been an increase.” He explained that chemical abortions have surged in popularity, particularly since 2017, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reduced required in-person visits for abortion pills from three to one. By 2020, during the pandemic, the FDA eliminated in-person visits entirely, allowing pills to be mailed without medical supervision. Since then, New emphasized, “you’ve seen numbers going up.”
While pro-life laws have had some impact, New noted that “chemical abortions are totally unregulated,” undermining these efforts. He suggested that reinstating regulations could be a game-changer, stating, “The Trump administration could stop this tomorrow, if they wanted to.” Perkins asked, “What happens … if the Trump administration … put back what was in place before the Biden administration?” — specifically, reinstating in-person consultations. According to New, the number of abortions would likely “fall dramatically.”
He continued, “[T]he telehealth abortions have only been with us since 2020. I mean, this [was] meant to be a temporary measure during the pandemic. The Biden administration unwisely continued.” Restoring prior regulations would mean “women living in pro-life states won’t obtain these abortions through the mail. They’ll carry pregnancies to term. They’ll get help from pro-life pregnancy help centers, and women [and] unborn children will be protected.”
Perkins reflected on the hope sparked by Dobbs, suggesting America was “trending toward a pro-life nation.” New agreed, noting that “pro-lifers worked long and hard to overturn Roe v. Wade. Now that Roe was overturned, we can put some policies in place that actually provide strong legal protection for preborn children.” However, he cautioned that the widespread availability of abortion pills undermines these gains, as “women go online [and] get these chemical abortion pills mailed to them. There’s no medical supervision, and it’s just undermining all the hard work pro-lifers have done.”
Perkins noted that “it’s also … keeping up with the trends. … [J]ust like the big brick and mortar stores are closing, more people [are] doing business through Amazon. … [T]he abortion industry is moving in that direction.” He noted that pro-abortionists say the industry is “hurting because they’re closing down these clinics. But in fact, they’ve already adopted a business model that is using the abortion pill.”
New described abortion businesses as “very savvy,” particularly with them recognizing that “chemical abortions are a way around these good, strong, solid pro-life laws we’ve worked hard to pass.” He highlighted groups like Aid Access, which send abortion pills into states in violation of local laws. “Our opponents are always very savvy,” New concluded, and “pro-lifers need to work hard and be very diligent to counter them.”
LifeNews Note: Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand, where this originally appeared.
