Abortion pills by mail surge despite Texas’ bans. How long can it last? | Opinion

Bridget Grumet, Austin American-Statesman
Jan 16 , 2025

NEWARK, DELAWARE — The large cardboard box in Debra Lynch’s living room contained enough pills for 162 medication abortions. Last summer, such a shipment would last a month. Then she needed to reorder every two weeks. Now she goes through a box like this every week.

“We’re mailing a lot to Texas,” said Jay Lynch, who handles most of the packaging and postage for Her Safe Harbor, an abortion-drug-by-mail service spearheaded by his wife.
Joe Pojman, the founder and executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life
Continued: https://www.statesman.com/story/opinion/columns/2025/01/16/abortion-pill-texas-ban-law-mifepristone-misoprostol-plan-c-pills/77332833007/

Canadian non-profit that facilitates abortion pill access sees surge in U.S. requests

By Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
November 27, 2024

A Canadian non-profit that helps women obtain the abortion pill in countries with restrictions says it saw a fourfold increase in U.S. requests after the presidential election.

The majority of inquiries came from women who were not pregnant, suggesting many want the drug on hand in case they need it, says Venny Ala-Siurua, executive director of Women on Web.

Ala-Siurua, based in Montreal, says some women fear abortions could become illegal or harder to access in the U.S. after Donald Trump takes office.

Continued: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/11/27/canadian-non-profit-that-facilitates-abortion-pill-access-sees-surge-in-u-s-requests/

Americans stockpile abortion pills and hormones ahead of ‘reproductive apocalypse’ under Trump

Healthcare providers report unprecedented demand for reproductive and gender-affirming medications: ‘We’ve never seen this before’

Emily Shugerman
Thu 7 Nov 2024

When the presidential election results were handed down on Wednesday, Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Aid Access, the No 1 supplier of abortion pills by mail in the United States, was huddled in a Paris apartment with her team of eight American physicians and 15 support staff. The group – which usually operates remotely, shipping out more than 9,000 abortion pills a month – had convened in person before the election, knowing they might have to spring into action.

They were right: as news of Trump’s victory spread, the website received more than 5,000 requests for abortion pills in less than 12 hours – a surge even larger than the day after Roe v Wade fell. “I can see all the new requests ticking in as we’re talking,” Gomperts said in a phone call on Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve never seen this before.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/abortion-pills-hormones-trump

USA – One Thing the Failed Attempt to Ban the Abortion Pill Did

The more anti-abortion activists attacked mifepristone, the more women flocked to use it.

BY CARRIE N. BAKER
JUNE 18, 2024

On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, that tried to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone based on false allegations that the medication was dangerous. The justices ruled that the plaintiffs—anti-abortion doctors and dentists who had never prescribed mifepristone and hadn’t treated women who had used the medication—did not have legal standing to bring the case. In a moment when the high court is understood to be highly politicized, the 9–0 ruling stood out as definitive, confirming the legality of the medication nationwide.

Although some evidence indicates that the case spread disinformation about the safety of abortion pills, the suit had unintended consequences. The demonization efforts have wound up being one giant publicity campaign for a medication that, for so many years, most women didn’t even know was an option.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/06/abortion-pill-case-taught-women-about-mifepristone.html

In spite of abortion bans, self-managed abortions are safer than ever

In an increasingly restrictive landscape, self-managed medication abortions have become a critical option

By NICOLE KARLIS, Senior Writer
MAY 5, 2024

As the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs decision, abortion rights protesters held signs adorned with wire coat hangers. The symbol evoked memories from a pre-Roe era, when the only option to terminate an unwanted pregnancy was unsafe and potentially deadly.

As detailed by one retired gynecologist in the New York Times in 2008, the symbol of a wire coat hanger was “in no way a myth.” He recalled a period between 1948 and 1953 when women would frequently arrive in his office with a coat hanger still trapped in the cervix — and it wasn’t just coat hangers. Crochet hooks, soda bottles, and darning needles were also used in attempts to end pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2024/05/05/in-spite-of-abortion-bans-self-managed-abortions-are-safer-than-ever/

USA – How a network of abortion pill providers works together in the wake of new threats

Groups such as Aid Access, Hey Jane and Just the Pill stay in close contact to help women seeking abortions in states with bans.

April 7, 2024
By Abigail Brooks and Dasha Burns

When the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in March about restricting access to the abortion drug mifepristone, Elisa Wells, co-founder and co-director of Plan C, was ready. Plan C, an information resource that connects women to abortion pill providers, almost immediately saw a spike in searches for the medication.

With Florida’s Supreme Court paving the way for the state’s six-week abortion ban, Wells says she’s expecting even more search activity and more creative thinking from providers.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/network-abortion-pill-providers-works-together-wake-new-threats-rcna146678

U.S. Supreme Court Challenge to Abortion Pills Could Boost Illegal Imports

Safeguarding access to pills from online foreign distributors may become a flashpoint in the reproductive care battle

by Chloe Searchinger
April 5, 2024

After hearing oral arguments last week, the Supreme Court appeared dubious of the plaintiff's legal challenge to the abortion pill in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Hippocratic Alliance of Medicine, the latest major abortion case since Dobbs v. Jackson overturned the constitutional guarantee to an abortion. Even though this outlook could lead pro-choice activists to breathe a minor sigh of relief and temporarily quell Big Pharma's fear over other challenges to FDA approvals, one indirect consequence regardless of the case outcome is the growing American reliance on imported abortion pills from overseas.

This manner of accessing abortion has been increasing in popularity since Dobbs, and safeguarding the provision of these pills from unapproved foreign distributors could soon become a flashpoint in the American battle over reproductive care, given that these imports are illegal because they operate outside the formal U.S. health-care system and beyond FDA oversight.

Continued: https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/us-supreme-court-challenge-abortion-pills-could-boost-illegal-imports

Access to abortion pills has grown since Dobbs

How activists, clinicians, and businesses are getting abortion medication to all 50 states.

By Rachel M. Cohen
Dec 27, 2023

Eighteen months after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion, and with a new Supreme Court challenge pending against the abortion medication mifepristone, confusion abounds about access to reproductive health care in America.

Since the June 2022 decision, abortion rates in states with restrictions have plummeted, and researchers estimated last month that the Dobbs decision led to “approximately 32,000 additional annual births resulting from bans.” Journalists profiled women who carried to term since Dobbs because they couldn’t afford to travel out of their restrictive state.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/12/27/24015092/abortion-pills-mifepristone-roe-reproductive-misoprostol

27.12.2023

Commentary

Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine

abortion pills

abortion support networks

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Elisa Wells

Expanding Medication Abortion Access

Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project

medication abortion

mifepristone

misoprostol

misoprostol only abortions

National Abortion Federation

Plan C

Red State Access

Reproductive Health Initiative for Telehealth Equity and Solutions

self-managed abortion

shield laws

Society of Family Planning

telehealth abortion

telemedicine abortion

Mexico’s activist ‘companion networks’ quietly provide abortion pills and support to U.S. women

By Olivia Goldhill
Dec. 7, 2023

TIJUANA, Mexico — Just over a decade ago, when Crystal Pérez Lira needed an abortion, she had to leave Mexico. The procedure was illegal in her home state of Baja California and so deeply stigmatized that even Pérez Lira supported the procedure only for those who were raped. Until she unexpectedly got pregnant.

She traveled to the U.S. for help, walking alone across the border from Tijuana to San Diego, first for a health check and a compulsory ultrasound, and then back for a second appointment, when she was given pills to induce an abortion. She returned to Mexico, where she went through the procedure at a friend’s house.

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2023/12/07/mexican-abortion-activist-networks-provides-abortion-pills-united-states/

Cancun abortion clinic aims to serve Americans from restrictive states

By Olivia Goldhill
Nov. 9, 2023

MEXICO CITY — More than 5.6 million U.S. tourists head to Cancun every year, drawn to the Mexican port’s white sand beaches, all-inclusive resorts, and raucous nightlife. Soon there’s likely to be another reason to visit: MSI Reproductive Choices, an international reproductive health nonprofit, plans to open an abortion clinic in the city, partly designed to cater to travelers from the U.S. who are unable to get an abortion in their home states.

“You have a lot more direct flights to Cancun than to any other city in Mexico,” said Araceli Lopez Nava Vázquez, regional managing director of MSI Reproductive Choices in Latin America. “That was an important thing for us to consider…. We’re aiming to help more American women.”

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/09/abortion-clinic-msi-cancun-mexico-americans