Americans are requesting increasingly more abortion pills from Aid Access, a non-profit organisation that provides these pills online.
The reason? Fears that the US Supreme Court will abolish the right to abortion, reports RTL Nieuws.
Abolishing the right to abortion on a federal level would mean that each state gets to make its own abortion rules.
As a consequence, many conservative states would make the procedure a lot more difficult — and about 20 are already planning to ban it or severely restrict it.
Demand already high
It’s not only now that Aid Access is seeing high demand for abortion pills from the US. Between October 2020 and December 2021, the organisation received over 45,000 requests for the pill.
High costs of other abortion methods, as well as the costs associated with travelling to faraway abortion clinics or the inability to do so because of work or caring for children, are some of the main reasons.
Safe and legal abortion
Aid Access was founded by Rebecca Gomperts in 2018. The Dutch doctor is a well-known activist for abortion rights and access to safe and legal abortion.
In the past, she has used her abortion boat to offer safe abortions in international waters off the coast of countries such as Poland, Spain, and Mexico.
The possible decision of the US Supreme Court has “made people aware of how vulnerable they are,” Gommerts tells RTL Nieuws.
To get an abortion pill from Aid Access, a person needs to fill in an online consultation form. The organisation then informs them how to take the pill safely.
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