What do anti-abortion activists actually want? Confusion. | Opinion

Abortion access has once again been called into question, jeopardizing the health of millions of American women in the process and creating chaos.

This is the reality of what the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization did to our ability to access health care.

On May 1, a federal appeals court in Louisiana temporarily halted the prescription of the abortifacient mifepristone via telehealth, effectively kneecapping abortion services nationwide. Then, on May 4, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated mail-order abortion services for a week while the justices considered the issue.

This kind of confusion has been part of the goal all along.

Anti-abortion advocates wanted this issue to return to the states so that there would be a patchwork of care across the country, inevitably leading women to seek abortions in other states. Then, when they realized that this was the world they were creating, they began closing in on what they saw as a loophole.

It was never about returning abortion to the states. They want to control all of us, no matter where we live.

What the pro-life crowd seems to be incapable of understanding, however, is that they were never going to rid the country of abortion. People have been terminating pregnancies for generations, regardless of whether the practice is legal or not. Reducing access to mifepristone only rids the country of safe abortions – leaving the door open for more women to die in their efforts to access the care that millions of women have received.

We knew this would happen once Roe v. Wade was overturned

About 1 in 3 of women of reproductive age in the United States live in a region where abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy – a period in which many women don’t even know they are pregnant. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade four years ago, abortion providers in blue states have been seeing patients across the country through online appointments so that these women could access the health care they needed.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has become a vital part of the fight for abortion access, particularly in rural parts of the country. In 2023, 65% of abortions in the United States were induced via medication, and in 2025, 91,000 abortions in states with total bans were conducted via telehealth.

Part of the reason the federal court in Louisiana decided to gut access to abortion pills via telehealth is that the state had to pay $92,000 in Medicaid costs in 2025 in order to pay for emergency care for two women who took mifepristone.

Yet experts say mifepristone is “safer than Tylenol,” and the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in 2024 that only 0.4% of medication abortions have major complications. What is unsafe is the reality of what a ban on telehealth appointments will bring.

Now that the use of the medication is being called into question, many women will seek to terminate their pregnancies by accessing mifepristone without a doctor supervising their care. Needless to say, this is far more dangerous than taking the pill with a doctor’s guidance, and it could result in far greater financial and human costs for states with abortion restrictions.

Again, this is health care that was once easily accessible to women, regardless of the state in which they lived. Even with different state restrictions, women were still able to get the care they needed in a timely manner.

The absolute chaos wrought by the Dobbs decision is what anti-abortion groups wanted. They wanted to control women across the country, so they made it harder to access something that should be enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

This is what Democrats need to do about it

As we wait for the Supreme Court to make a decision on the legality of prescribing mifepristone via telehealth, Democrats would be wise to take advantage of the moment and come out strongly in support of abortion access. It’s one of the easiest wins for the party – everyone within the big tent seems to be on the same page about access, and 60% of U.S. adults say abortions should be legal in all or most cases.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and Republicans have not had a clear message on what they should hypothetically consider a win for the party. The GOP has a weak spot, and it’s this. The Democratic Party must act now while opponents are twiddling their thumbs and trying to craft the perfect message.

Many Democrats have already come out against the federal court of appeals ruling, but that’s not enough. Democratic lawmakers need to show voters that they have a solid plan for restoring abortion access nationwide if they are able to regain control of Congress and, eventually, the executive branch. They need to make it clear that they are going to fight for women, even those who don’t live in blue states, to have access to safe, reliable health care.

It isn’t fair that women are pawns in the political schemes of anti-abortion activists. We have a right to health care in this country, and that should include the right to terminate pregnancies. The confusion of the past few days only serves to show that the post-Dobbs landscape is an absolute mess, and something must be done to restore order.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky:@sarapequeno.bsky.social