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Online sales of emergency contraceptives, like the morning-after pill Plan B, surged in the United States last week – days after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, according to retailers.
The increase in sales has women concerned about how the incoming Trump administration will restrict emergency birth control and is now preparing, said Monica Sepak, CEO of the sexual and reproductive telehealth company. Wisp.
At Wisp, which offers two types of emergency contraceptives online, sales of those drugs increased nearly 1,000% after Tuesday's election.
“We are seeing women stocking up on emergency contraceptive pills properly,” Sepak said. “We've actually recently launched a lot of Plan B packages, and that's been a driver of the order increases we've seen. About 90% of emergency contraceptive orders are those multipacks.
At the beginning Winx healthRelaunch of the Sexual and Genital Health Organization's morning-after pill sales increased 315 percent the day after the election compared to 24 hours before the election. That means seven times more restart They sold more the day after the election than they had the week before, the company said.
“Things took off right away,” says Cynthia Ploch, co-founder of Winx Health.
As of Friday, sales of the product were up 966 percent from 3 days before the election, she said.
“We're seeing the majority of these sales come from our multiple benefits. So women are not buying a single product. They're stocking up to keep on hand for themselves, for their friends, for their sisters,” Ploch said.
“What I'm taking from this experience is that women are smart. Women are wise. We have not politicized our bodies. They have been made political agents, and now we are learning how to take back control,” she said. I think that's why we're seeing the trends we're seeing.
Winx Health's interest in community funding has increased. Restart the donation bank It allows anyone who wants to reset the morning-after pill to request it online and receive it for free.
We are a women-owned, women-led company representing the women's community. It is our duty to continue our struggle. This is what's next for us,” Ploch said. “Our work in the Trump administration — not just at Winx, but our work as a community — is about protecting access and advancing education.”
Emergency contraception, such as the morning-after pill, is a form of birth control that prevents pregnancy after a person has had sex. It is not the same as an abortion that uses different types of drugs. Morning-after pills Only work if the user is not already pregnantAbortion is the termination of pregnancy.
When women live in states with more restrictions on abortion, “they also think they don't have this product,” Ploch said of emergency contraception.
Some doctors have reported an increase in patients asking not only for these types of emergency contraceptive options, but also for long-term contraceptives. Intrauterine devicesor IUDs. Some of these patients, especially Trump, will be asked to receive medications or procedures before taking the oath of office in January.
On Thursday, two days after the election, he said, “I had four questions from patients about the permanent sterilization or IUD, and all four were, 'Can I please do this before graduation?' They were saying. said Dr. Clayton Alfonso, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Duke Health in North Carolina and a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“Also, a pediatrician colleague reached out to me and said, 'Hey, I have an 18-year-old daughter; He has been trying to get an IUD for the past year. Can you help her in?' i have. “Another colleague of mine, sitting in a clinic, said: 'From Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, I've seen two constant requests for sterilization.' ”
Alfonso said he and his colleagues saw little problem with these types of questions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Dobbs decision in Roe v. Wade and ended federal abortion rights in 2022.
But the new questions feel more “difficult,” he said. “We're seeing these patients fear exactly what's going on in my mind.”
Some of the concerns about what the reproductive health care landscape might look like under a second Trump presidency stem from what has been outlined in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint developed by think tank The Heritage Foundation for consideration by the next Republican president.
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As outlined in that agenda, reproductive health professionals will discuss the 2018 Ways to reduce access to the second Trump presidency Not just abortion, but maternal health care, maternity care and contraception.
“The important thing to realize is that it's all interconnected,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnick, director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health research and policy organization that supports abortion rights.
There are concerns that the Trump administration could spread misinformation around reproductive health care, birth control programs and clinics. Comstock ActA Reform-era federal law prohibiting the mailing of “obnoxious acts” of pharmaceutical abortions.
“When you attack reproductive health care, it really has an insidious effect,” Friedrich-Karnick said.
“Often people who need abortion care also need contraception at some point, and people who need contraception may eventually need maternal health,” she said. “People's lives are fluid, and care is fluid, and you can't attack reproductive health care without affecting the type of care people need.”