Guttmacher's numbers come from a survey of abortionists who provided data for the year 2020. In that year, 54% of abortions were chemical abortions. Chemical abortions are simply abortions committed through the use of the abortion pill regimen.
The Guttmacher Institute has not yet finalized its study, writing that the 54% number was based on "preliminary findings from ongoing data collection." The group plans to release final estimates in late 2022. While the percentage could change, Guttmacher wrote that it does not expect the number to go below 50%.
In 2020, the FDA suspended safety regulations that required abortion pills to be distributed in-person at abortion businesses. The change was advertised as being a temporary measure meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, but as many pro-life advocates suspected, those regulations were never reinstated. Instead, FDA officials dropped those safety regulations completely.
National Right To Life Director of Education and Research Randall K. O'Bannon said, “Promoters of these pills like to trumpet high safety rates, but they neglect to mention that with hundreds of thousands of women taking these pills, even a couple of percentage points of women hemorrhaging, dealing with infections, and ectopic pregnancy, represents thousands of women desperately seeking emergency medical treatment, which may or may not be nearby.”