 They don't have the capabilities to take on procedural abortions, but they can provide medication abortion. Another reason medication abortion care has become so prevalent in the U.S. is COVID-19. To keep people physically distant, federal regulations changed in 2021 so that patients are no longer required to have in-person screening to get abortion pills. Now, nearly one out of every five abortions in the U.S. are done via telemedicine.