Planned Parenthood Launches Advance-Order Abortion Pills Program in Two States

More than three years ago, Jezebel recommended people get in the habit of stashing up on abortion pills, prompted then by legal challenges to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, under a reigning Trump administration and in the wake of Roe’s death.

Clearly, that recommendation stands. And anti-abortionists have continued with their crusade to curb—if not completely eliminate—nationwide access to abortion. So on Thursday, Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, and Kentucky—affiliates of the nation’s biggest single provider of abortions—launched their own initiative to help people buy abortion pills (also known as advance provisions) ahead of an unwanted pregnancy. 

“Despite overwhelming evidence proving that medication abortion is safe and effective, anti-abortion lawmakers continue to attack access, trying to get between patients and their care,” the organization’s chief of clinical transformation and medical affairs, Dr. Colleen McNicholas, told Jezebel in a statement. “But while anti-abortion groups chase an extremist ideological agenda and demand the FDA reevaluate a demonstrably safe medication, Planned Parenthood is doing everything we can to expand access and keep people protected.”

Don’t actually store these pills in your medicine cabinet, too much moisture in bathrooms

But: “The medication has a shelf life of about two years, depending on the brand, and the expiration date is printed on the packaging.”

— Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) May 22, 2026 at 6:27 AM

Through “Just in Case Abortion Pills,” people in Hawaii and Washington can order medication abortions—including mifepristone and misoprostol—ahead of an unwanted pregnancy, NPR first reported on Thursday. The organization joins a roster of other providers that have been providing advance provisions, such as Aid Access, a Netherlands-based provider that services people in all 50 states—and comes at a time in which access to medication abortions is particularly fraught. 

In February, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) brought the FDA to court over its 2023 decision to remove the in-person requirement for mifepristone, asking a federal court then to impose a nationwide injunction on telehealth abortion while the case is deliberated. The (notoriously conservative) court complied, thus throwing things into turmoil. The Supreme Court quickly thereafter blocked the decision. But the legal back-and-forth has confused providers, patients, and doctors—even in blue states. 

During uncertain times like these, people tend to start stockpiling abortion pills. Per a JAMA report in April 2024, amid another judicial fight over access to telehealth abortions, requests for advance provisions skyrocketed. 

“The idea that you can get abortion pills by mail or that you can get them in advance is really new to a lot of people,” Plan C Pills co-founder, Elisa Wells, told NPR. “Having a group like Planned Parenthood that does have such trust and name recognition adding those services is really important.”

And along with your weekly reminder that mifepristone is safe, has been deemed so by more than a decade’s worth of FDA studies, and could even be an over-the-pill medication—here are a few more tips: check the expiration dates of your medications when you receive them, keep in mind they usually have a two-year expiry date, and keep them at room temperature.