- Jessica Nouhavandi's pharmacy, Honeybee Health, was the first to ship abortion pills in the US.
- She said the company's orders rose by 50% the week after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
- Here's Nouhavandi's take on why this method will grow post-Roe, as told to Insider's Urooba Jamal.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jessica Nouhavandi, a cofounder and co-CEO of Honeybee Health, a digital pharmacy that became the first in the US to deliver abortion pills by mail. It has been edited for length and clarity.
We were the first and are now one of only two pharmacies in the US that provide mail-order abortion pills. Things are wild here. We saw a 50% rise in orders the week after Roe v. Wade was overturned compared to the previous week.
Like many others in this incredible community of abortion providers and advocacy groups, we are disappointed and frustrated — though not surprised — by the archaic and misguided SCOTUS decision.
The silver lining of all of this is increased awareness about medication abortion as a more cost-effective option.
But post-Roe, people living in states that are going to eliminate or severely limit access to abortion will face increased barriers in seeking medication abortion.
The states that have more favorable regulations and which allow for medication abortion by mail have begun to more formally protect these rights and prepare for the influx of people that will be traveling there to receive care.
That's what we're focused on: How do we support these providers?
It's hard as it is for patients to follow where to go, what it costs, who can do it. Roe's overturning is proposing even more barriers for people.
And abortions will still happen — it's a matter of whether or not safe abortions will happen.
But mail-order abortion up to 11 weeks will still be an option in some states. Currently we're shipping to 23 states and monitoring the changes the states make in legislation very closely.
There are states that we don't ship to that either don't allow tele-abortion or have a waiting period that requires an ultrasound outside the faster timeline required for medication abortion.
Not allowing tele-abortions is a political barrier to access
There are no medical reasons for someone needing to take the pill in a clinic. It's absolutely unnecessary.
Mail-order abortion has many advantages. It allows patients to take the medications in the comfort of their own home, allowing for the ultimate privacy.
Sometimes people must pass by anti-abortion protesters at a clinic, or there is a lot of waiting with having to go back for follow-ups that are medically unnecessary.
So what medication abortion by mail provides is an easy, affordable, private option for abortion. It also helps free up abortion providers to do more complicated and later-stage abortions.
The pandemic is how we began delivering the mail-order abortion pill
It's kind of unbelievable to think that we really put the pieces in place to make sure people had access to abortion during the pandemic. We didn't do it because we thought Roe v. Wade was going to fall.
When COVID-19 first happened, providers were reaching out to us asking if it was possible for our mail-order pharmacy to help them ship mifepristone. It was a very scary time, and a lot of people were accessing healthcare through telehealth or through a mail-order pharmacy.
And that was the first time that as a pharmacy we've been able to support abortion work, because prior to that mifepristone and medication abortion were only allowed to be distributed in clinics.
Mail-order medication abortion is the future of abortion in our country
We must help spread the word that this is a safe, effective, private, and affordable option for many people.
Information about medication abortion is getting out there. Yes, there's fear driving a lot of it. But I do think that more people know that this is an option now because of all of the news and information out there.
Dit artikel is oorspronkelijk verschenen op z24.nl