A nascent but rapidly growing industry of abortion providers administers abortions only through telemedicine, with no physical clinics. A federal court ruling that aims to ban the mailing of abortion pills could make it much harder for them to operate.
Abortion rights advocates rally outside the US Supreme Court on April 14, 2023, in Washington, DC, speaking out over abortion pill restrictions. - The US Justice Department said April 13, it will go to the Supreme Court to appeal restrictions imposed on mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill, in the latest round of a fierce battle over reproductive rights. A nascent but rapidly growing industry of abortion providers administers abortions only through telemedicine, with no physical clinics.
Virtual clinics use clinicians with special licenses, and serve women who are physically in states where abortion remains legal and have a mailing address there. They offer online consults, by video or messaging, and write prescriptions that are usually filled by a mail-order pharmacy. A visit generally costs $200 to $300, though some clinics provide discounts or free services for patients with low incomes.
Demand at virtual clinics has continued to accelerate. Honeybee is filling more than 10,000 abortion medication prescriptions a month this year, an increase of several thousand from the end of last year. Since a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary ruling invalidating the FDA approval of mifepristone last week, the pharmacy has had its largest number of abortion medication orders.
Abortion on Demand, the virtual clinic with the largest footprint, operating in 22 states and Washington, D.C., had said it would stop prescribing mifepristone by Monday, when the court decision had been set to go into effect. After the Supreme Court stay, Dr. Jamie Phifer, the medical director of Abortion on Demand, said that she was confident the clinic could continue to prescribe both pills in most states past Wednesday, but that the situation was rapidly changing.
In states where abortion remains legal, there are no risks to women who obtain and take the pills from these providers, said Farah Diaz-Tello, the legal director of the advocacy group If/When/How. The legal risks from possible FDA enforcement for the providers and the pharmacies are less clear, and they said they hoped for more clarity next week.
One virtual clinic, Hey Jane, which started in 2021 and prescribes in eight states, has seen its number of monthly patients more than double since Dobbs. To meet demand, it has grown its clinical staff fivefold in the last year and introduced a sliding pay scale. It is also expanding to more states, starting with Maryland this month and focusing on states that border those with restrictions.
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