Why Mass. plays 'a huge role' in national abortion access since the fall of Roe v. Wade

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Massachusetts recently released new data on abortions. And as I reported last week, the numbers signal dramatic changes in national abortion dynamics — and the Bay State’s role in that picture — since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Let’s begin with three trends. From 2023 to 2024:

This is the post-Roe era for patients and reproductive health care providers. A report from the Guttmacher Institute, which supports access to abortion, finds the overall number of abortions nationwide has remained largely unchanged because abortion pills are easily available via telehealth.

The upshot is that with abortion now banned or under tight restrictions in two dozen states, Massachusetts is playing “a huge role” in ensuring people throughout the country are getting abortions, Dr. Angel Foster, the co-founder of The MAP, told me.

The shift to telehealth is a target for many abortion opponents. Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn said efforts like The MAP, where patients are never seen in person, “continue to abandon women at an unprecedented and historic rate.”

Although some Republicans have supported plans to delay any new abortion restrictions until after the November midterms, many abortion opponents remain determined to cut off access to medication abortions. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, filed a bill this month that would ban mifepristone, one of two pills commonly used in medication abortions. Several states are pursuing lawsuits that would make mifepristone illegal.

But earlier this month, the Trump administration asked a judge to dismiss these cases because they could “short-circuit” the administration’s own safety review of that drug. One prominent anti-abortion group called the administration’s move a “disgrace.”

Legal challenges to shield laws — written to protect prescribers from civil lawsuits, criminal charges and threats to their licenses — could also upend the pill shipping operations out of Massachusetts and other states that aim to undermine abortion restrictions and bans.

Meanwhile, the demand for abortions has continued to rise in Massachusetts, according to groups that provide them. Foster said The MAP filled nearly 25,000 orders for abortion pills in 2025. This year, it’s on track for 40,000.

P.S. — Before you go, I’d like to ask for your help with a different topic. I’m interested in how the FDA is regulating AI in medical devices and how consumers are using unregulated trackers such as Apple watches, WHOOP bands, Oura rings and the like. If you wear one of these do you:

Please send responses to marthab@wbur.org.

Thanks so much,
Martha