WBUR | Mass. reports dramatic abortion rise in 2024, driven by pills shipped out of state

By Martha Bebinger | Originally Published by WBUR

The number of abortions provided by doctors and nurse practitioners in Massachusetts doubled in 2024, according to the latest numbers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Abortion providers reported 49,450 procedures in 2024, up from 24,355 one year earlier. The vast majority, 82%, were induced with medications. And just over half occurred outside the state after a patient received pills in the mail.

The report illustrates the stark changes in access to abortion that unfolded after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, and abortion bans took effect in many, largely Republican-controlled states. Right now, 24 states ban or limit access to an abortion, while 26 states have few, if any, limits.

Patients in states with bans can email groups like The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, or The MAP, whose volunteers packaged and sent the two pills commonly used for a medication abortion to nearly 11,000 recipients in 2024.

“What a huge role a small state like Massachusetts is playing in ensuring that women and other pregnancy capable people throughout the country are getting the abortion care they need,” said Dr. Angel Foster, who co-founded The MAP.

Foster has said her biggest challenge is persuading people who seek abortions that The MAP is a legitimate option and not a scam or tool to catch them in an illegal act.

National data from abortion supporters and opponents has shown a similar shift toward people obtaining the procedure through pills shipped from states where abortion remains legal. Many doctors say the pills are safe when administered properly, and they have procedures in place to advise and monitor patients remotely.

Abortion rights opponents disagree.

“The 2024 data shows that Massachusetts helps to sell abortion to women across the United States without safeguards in place and little, if any, regard for these women’s medical needs or well being,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president and CEO of Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Flynn focused on Gov. Maura Healey, in particular, who she said should not help people break laws in other states.

Healey’s office and the state Department of Health have not responded to requests for comment about the newly released numbers.

The state’s reporting also showed a change in how many patients pay for abortions. In 2024, two of every three people paid for an abortion without help from a public or private insurance plan. In 2023, that number was just one in three. Private abortion funds, which aid patients seeking to end a pregnancy, helped pay for 26% of all abortions in 2024, up from 16% in 2023. Some organizations provide pills starting as low as $5.

The 2024 abortion report does not include information about race, previous abortions, family size, marital status and other information Massachusetts used to release about people having abortions. Some abortion providers no longer collect that data.

While the number of abortions among Massachusetts residents has been relatively steady for some time, total abortion rates for the state are expected to keep rising. Foster said The MAP filled nearly 25,000 orders for abortion pills in 2025 and is on track for 40,000 this year.

“This drastic increase in abortion numbers tells us there’s a definite need for this type of care and that our shield laws are working,” said Taylor St. Germain, interim executive director of the abortion rights group, Reproductive Equity Now.

Massachusetts is one of 22 states with laws designed to protect abortion and sometimes transgender care providers from criminal, civil and licensing charges filed by residents of other states. Several challenges to these laws are moving through state courts.