Planned Parenthood Closures Is the First Step

The national abortion rate is trending up

Anticipating the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” earlier this month, Planned Parenthood announced in May that 200 out of its 600 facilities nationwide could close due to the defunding provisions in the bill. While the defunding provisions are only effective for one year, the abortion giant is actively closing six facilities in California, four each in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota, three in Texas, including its large 78,000 square-foot facility at Houston’s Prevention Park, three in Ohio, two in Utah, and one each in Indiana, New York City, and Vermont.

Out of the 33 closures, at least nine of the locations performed surgical abortions while at least eight others offered access to the dangerous abortion pill Mifepristone. However, all the facilities could participate in abortion by making abortion referrals to other Planned Parenthood locations. Notably, 45 of Planned Parenthood’s 49 regional affiliates also offer puberty blockers and hormones used in harmful gender interventions. As result of the defunding, Planned Parenthood stands to lose about $792 million in taxpayer-funded Medicaid reimbursements—the amount it received in FY2023.

Despite 13 states with near-total abortions in effect, and six other states banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, the national abortion rate is trending up. According to Planned Parenthood’s 2023-2024 fiscal year annual report, the abortion giant did 402,230 abortions last year, which was about 10,000 more than in the previous year and nearly 30,000 more from two years prior. Additionally, data from the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning, known for #WeCount reports, suggests U.S. abortions totaled about 1.14 million in 2024, the largest amount in recent years. Notably, the data also shows that in-person abortion visits declined “slightly” while telehealth abortions via the abortion pill grew.

Chemical abortions now account for at least 63 percent of all U.S. abortions, an increase from 53 percent in 2020

According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, chemical abortions now account for at least 63 percent of all U.S. abortions, an increase from 53 percent in 2020. The Biden administration helped increase this trend by further deregulating access to Mifepristone in 2021 and eliminating the requirement for in-person visits. In 2022, the same administration issued an opinion through the Department of Justice that pharmacies may mail abortion pills across state lines even to pro-life states in defiance of the Comstock Act, which prohibits sending abortion materials through the mail. A #WeCount survey estimated that “8,000 prescriptions of Mifepristone per month (almost 100,000 per year) have been sent through the mail from abortionists in pro-abortion states to pro-life states” since that opinion.

Facilitating the increase in abortion by mail are “shield laws.” At least 18 states, such as, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, as well as the District of Columbia, have all enacted “shield laws” protecting abortionists who prescribe and send abortion pills to states with pro-life laws.

Helping sustain the rising abortion trend are women traveling out of state to obtain an abortion. As the Guttmacher Institute reports, 155,000 women traveled out of state for abortion services in 2024 “representing 15 percent of all U.S. abortion patients obtaining care in states without total bans.” The data suggests Illinois remains a “critical access point” for women from across the South and Midwest and that women from Texas travel as far away as Maryland, Michigan, New York and Washington. With Florida joining most states of the Southeast with its abortion laws in 2024, the data shows an increase in women from this state traveling to Virginia for abortion services—the closest state without early gestational bans.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “While the defunding of Planned Parenthood is a necessary step to protect human life, the dangerous chemical abortion pills are causing injury and death to women. These chemical abortion pills block progesterone and starve the baby and then the chemicals and human fetal remains are flushed into our water systems. Federal and state laws need to be enforced to stop these drugs from being sent through the mail.”