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Within hours of Donald Trump's presidential victory, Americans began stockpiling reproductive health medications, including emergency contraception and abortion pills, amid widespread fears that his administration could restrict access to these vital resources.
The abortion pill mifepristone – sold as Mifegymiso in Canada and Mifeprex in the US – is flying off the shelves, with online retailers reporting huge demand as people take proactive steps to secure their reproductive autonomy, explains Elisa Wells, co-founder of Plan Ca US public health initiative that helps facilitate medication abortion.
“Before the election results were announced, earlier this month, we had 4,500 visitors per day. Yesterday we had 82,900 visitors. There has been a huge increase in people looking for information on how to access abortion,” she said. “We also know from conversations with providers that they have seen a dramatic increase in requests for abortion pills.”
Wells believes the post-election surge in requests will continue for some time as people take steps to secure their reproductive health care options for the future.
That's because the abortion pill is a controversial issue in the US. The US Supreme Court ruled this in June rejected a bid from anti-abortion groups and doctors to restrict access to the abortion pill. About half of U.S. states allow online prescribing and delivery of mifepristone by mail, while the others limit its availability or ban it altogether.
While mifepristone remains legal in many states, there are growing concerns that access will become more limited under the Trump administration, especially given the former president's wavering stance on a possible ban.
“What's really happening is that people are afraid that abortion won't be accessible, even in states that currently offer it. There is a lot of fear in the United States. And it's hard to know if that fear is justified,” Wells said.
“Based on what Trump has said about abortion … he has addressed that over the years.”
Americans aren't just stocking up on abortion pills, they're also buying other reproductive health medications, like birth control and emergency contraception.
Wisp, a US-based online sexual and reproductive health care company, told Global News that it has seen a significant spike in demand for Plan B (emergency contraception) since Trump's presidential victory.
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On November 6, sales of emergency contraceptive pills increased by almost 1,000 percent, with contraceptive sales increasing by 50 percent and purchases of emergency contraception by new patients increasing by 1,650 percent. And orders for medical abortion pills increased 600 percent between Nov. 5 and 6, a spokesperson said.
Telehealth clinic Hey Jane reported a 27 percent increase in medication abortion orders, a 35 percent increase in contraceptive orders and a 123 percent spike in requests for emergency contraception the day after the presidential election.
Mifepristone is prescribed to end pregnancies by dilating the cervix and blocking the hormone progesterone, which is necessary to maintain a pregnancy. It is usually taken with a second medication, misoprostol, which causes the uterus to cramp and contract. In the US, the two-drug regimen is used to terminate a pregnancy for ten weeks
Mifepristone is legal in Canada and the US and is available with a doctor's prescription. Approved by the FDA in 2000, the abortion pill is used in more than 30 countries 60 percent of abortions in the US.
The FDA has said that mifepristone has proven to be “extremely safe” after decades of use by millions of women in the U.S. and around the world, and that studies have shown that “serious side effects are extremely rare.”
The mifepristone and misoprostol regimen is also on the World Health Organization's program list of essential medicines.
In Canada, the abortion pill can be prescribed for on-label use up to nine weeks of pregnancy. Doctors can prescribe it off-label up to ten weeks' gestation because it has been used safely and effectively up to that gestational age and beyond.
Medical abortion with mifepristone is 95 to 98 percent effective when used as directed. The risk of serious complicationssuch as an infection or bleeding that may require hospitalization or a transfusion is only 0.4 percent.
Wells explained that mifepristone has a shelf life of about five years, while misoprostol lasts about two years. Because of this longer shelf life, she recommends that people keep abortion pills on hand as a precaution.
“Many of the providers we work with offer the option to obtain abortion pills in advance and store them for safety. With the incoming administration, we encourage people to consider this,” she said. “Be prepared: The medications will last for years, and it's a fairly inexpensive way to have something essential in your medicine cabinet.”
What did Trump say about the abortion pill?
In an interview published in April by Time magazineTrump declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
“Well, I do have an opinion about that, but I'm not going to explain it. I'm not going to say yet. But I have a pretty strong opinion about that. And I'll probably release it in the next week,” he stated in the Time interview.
In the first presidential debate of 2024 with President Joe Biden in June, Trump stated that he would not restrict access to abortion drugs if elected.
However, Project 2025, the conservative government blueprint written by former Trump officials and other close advisers in which he says he is not involved, is calling on the FDA to withdraw its approval of the abortion pill.
Google search engines are skyrocketing
Google searches for reproductive rights have also skyrocketed following Trump's election victory.
On November 6, Google searches for “vasectomy” increased, with the highest search volumes coming from Utah, Alaska, Indiana, Nebraska and Kentucky. Abortion is banned in Kentucky and Indiana, while Utah has an 18-week abortion ban and Nebraska limits abortion access to 12 weeks.
According to Google, the search term “Does Planned Parenthood do vasectomies” has also increased 450 percent in recent days.
“Bilateral salpingectomy,” a surgical procedure that removes both fallopian tubes, also came up heavily in Google searches.
In addition, “female sterilization,” “cost of vasectomy,” “tube ligation,” and “shelf life of abortion pills” all boomed and appeared as breakout terms.
It's hard to predict what will happen over the next four years during the Trump administration, Wells said, but she said organizations like Plan C are “planning for the worst.”
“We plan to get pills into the country when they are no longer available through regular medical providers. We have been working on this for a decade and have built and scaled systems to meet the need for access,” she said.
“Because we will continue to need access to abortion care when a country or state bans abortion, this does not change the demand for abortion care.”
— With files from Associated Press and Reuters
Katie Dangerfield
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