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Published on: February 3, 2026
Mifepristone provision following policy shifts in 2022 and 2023
Julia Strasser1, Taylor Gorak1, Risa Griffin1
1Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, George Washington University, 2175 K St NW, Suite 250, Washington DC 20037, United States.
Objectives:
Medication abortion is safe and effective and typically involves two medications taken sequentially: mifepristone and misoprostol. In 2023, a regulatory change removed the requirement for mifepristone to be dispensed in-person. Several states also introduced shield laws in 2023, providing certain legal protections for clinicians who provide abortion. This study uses national-level medical claims data to examine trends in mifepristone provision in 2022 and 2023, as well as workforce composition during this period of policy change.
Study Design:
Using medical and prescription claims data from IQVIA, a proprietary health information company that includes data for approximately 191 million patients, we identified the number of mifepristone prescriptions and clinicians prescribing mifepristone in 2022 and 2023 in the United States that appear in this national sample. We conducted interrupted time-series analysis of mifepristone medications dispensed in-person and prescriptions from mail pharmacies from January 2022 to December 2023 and compared the proportion of clinicians providing services in 2022 versus 2023 using Pearson chi-squared tests and rate ratios.
Results:
We identified 71,352 total mifepristone medications/prescriptions in 2022 and 95,527 in 2023. Mifepristone prescriptions via mail pharmacies increased significantly in 2023 (+305.29 per month), while medications dispensed in-person decreased (-295.6 per month). OBGYNs provided less mifepristone in 2023 compared with 2022, while family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, and midwives provided more.
Conclusion:
Mifepristone prescriptions in mail pharmacies increased in 2023, and more advanced practice clinicians provided mifepristone in 2023 than 2022.
Implications:
Shifting abortion policies may mean shifts in who is providing that care, particularly advanced practice clinicians.
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