Organizations offering medication abortion, a regimen of taking two drugs to terminate a pregnancy in the first 10 weeks, are seeing a hike in demand after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade June 24.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the administration will work with the Justice Department to preserve abortion pill access to states where the FDA-approved practice is outlawed, but he didn't specify how, The New York Times reported June 28.
Hey Jane, an organization that sells telehealth appointments and abortion pills, is treating 25 times more patients daily compared to 15 months ago. The company told Becker's Hospital Review site traffic grew 10 times and demand more than doubled since the ruling.
"This spike in interest demonstrates to us that people are increasingly curious about telemedication abortion as it becomes an exceptionally viable option in the wake of Roe's overturn," Hey Jane CEO Kiki Freedman told Becker's.
The New York-based organization sells medication abortion — which involves taking two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol — to patients in New York state, California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado and New Mexico, according to its website. Although these six states either protect or are broadening access to abortion, Ms. Freedman said the latest spike in demand isn't only because of the Supreme Court's decision.
"Over the past few months, we've seen an increase in patients reporting that they're coming to Hey Jane because of longer-than-expected appointment wait times, which suggests to us that bans in places like Texas were already having a ripple effect in states with abortion access," Ms. Freedman said.
Just the Pill, a nonprofit that also sells the regimen, told Becker's the company's average was 20 to 25 requests per day. But, "as of Monday, we had already received over 260 medication abortion requets just since the ruling was announced on Friday," a spokesperson said.
Of the four states Just the Pill sells to, two states, Colorado and Minnesota, have protected access to abortions; one state, Montana, is in the hands of lawmakers or courts to decide; and one state, Wyoming, is expected to ban abortions soon, according to The New York Times.