The 2025 Ohio Department of Health's annual abortion report shows 25,135 abortions were performed last year. That’s an increase of more than 3,300 over 2024, which is a 15% jump. And it’s the highest number since voters passed the reproductive rights amendment in 2023.
The passage of that amendment followed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling overturning the landmark Roe decision in June and state laws on the books banned it. In 2022, the state's abortion totals dropped to their lowest number since the Ohio Department of Health started recording abortions in 1976.
Of the 2025 total, 20.9% of abortion patients were from out of state.
“I think that shows that the people in our state and in the states around us that unfortunately have banned access to abortion care are getting the care they need and deserve," said Abortion Forward Deputy Director Jaime Miracle.
Almost three-quarters of abortions were completed on patients at less than nine weeks. A total of 14,916, or 59.3%, were medication abortions that could be facilitated in person or by using telehealth. Miracle said telehealth and the fact that a 24-hour waiting period is no longer required have made access to the procedure more accessible to women in Ohio and other states.
“Patients don't have to physically go to a facility twice to get access to the care they need. Just that one change of the law in our state has increased access to, to care exponentially, because patients don't have to have two appointments. That means that frees up appointments, not only for patients in Ohio, but patients from other states who have to unfortunately travel outside of their state to get access to the care they need,” Miracle said.
Ohio Right to Life responds
Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said he is concerned that the number of abortions increased last year.“It’s a tragedy, and it’s almost a historic tragedy.”
Gonidakis said it’s alarming that Black women got 49% of the abortions, though they make up about 13% of the state’s population.
“It's borderline criminal to see a disproportionate number yet again on black women when they make up so small of a fraction of our state's population," Gonidakis said. "It's as if the abortion industry targets them. Where are abortion clinics located? They're not located in rich white suburbs, I can tell you that."
About 70% of the women who received abortions in 2025 were unmarried, divorced, separated, or widowed. Gonidakis said fewer married women have abortion so it’s important for state lawmakers to have conversations about policies to strengthen families.
“We just hope that we can hit the pause button here for a second so we can see what, if any, value or benefit we are doing to help women with these numbers and it’s just disheartening at best," Gonidakis said.
The takeaways
State lawmakers have proposed some abortion restrictions to reinstate waiting periods and limit the use of telehealth for abortions, but if those pass, they will face legal challenges. There are still active legal challenges to laws on the ban on the 24-hour waiting period, on abortion medications prescribed via telemedicine and on disposal of fetal remains. The six-week abortion ban passed in 2019 is blocked after the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the case in light of the 2023 amendment. There are other parts of that law besides the ban that are still being litigated.
Gonidakis said the only way to change the constitution is by a vote of the people, "and if that day ever comes—I don’t think it’s coming anytime soon—we will address it then."
He said he’s going to be watching a case that will likely be before the Ohio Supreme Court next year that could allow the term “reproductive rights” to be spelled out in state law.
Miracle said many of the women who received abortions reported they didn’t use contraception before becoming pregnant.
“Ohio is the only state in the entire nation that doesn’t have health education standards so our schools are not required to teach medically accurate, comprehensive sex education so that students know what contraceptives they can use and how to use them," Miracle said.
Miracle said the federal and state defunding of Planned Parenthood for Medicaid patients has also left many without good contraceptive care.
There were 148 abortions performed on girls under 16 in Ohio in 2025. In previous years, the lowest age category recorded in the annual report was under 15.
You can view the complete 2025 Ohio Abortion Report here.
The highest number of resident abortions ever recorded in Ohio was in 1981, when more than 45,000 abortions were reported.
