Searches for Birth Control, Abortion Pills Are Spiking. Here’s What You Need to Know.

On the campaign trail, faced with the deep popularity of rights to abortion and contraception, Donald Trump repeatedly flip-flopped and gave purposefully, deceptively ambiguous answers about both. He is, of course, a serial liar. Now that he’s been elected president, we know our reproductive rights are in jeopardy because we can look to his heinous record as well as the detailed plan (AKA Project 2025) that his anti-abortion extremist advisers and allies have outlined for his second term. 

These plans include directing the FDA to revoke approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which is highly safe, in addition to having his Justice Department enforce the Comstock Act of 1873 in order to prohibit the mailing of abortion pills. (Over 60% of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions.) As president, Trump enacted policies to limit insurance coverage of contraceptives, and in May, suggested he’d restrict birth control; over the last year, on the state and federal levels, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly blocked legislation to protect a right to birth control. 

So, given that context, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that online searches about accessing birth control and abortion pills have spiked in the last few days. The Birth Injury Lawyers Group reports that online searches for contraception rose by 254% within hours of the election being called; searches for IUDs specifically rose by 174%, as did searches for “Planned Parenthood.” Winx Health reports selling seven times as many units of its emergency contraception on Wednesday compared with ordinary days. And, speaking to Jezebel on Friday, Elisa Wells, co-founder of Plan C Pills, which provides information on how people can buy abortion pills online, said the campaign’s website typically sees 400 to 500 visits to its webpage per day, but on Wednesday, it received 82,000 visits, and about 57,000 on Thursday.

Plan C Pills’ website offers comprehensive information on how to order medication abortion online in all 50 states and connects users to trusted vendors to purchase the pills for as low as $25. Following the election, the campaign is trying to spread the word far and wide that you can—and absolutely should—order and stock up on medication abortion before you’re pregnant. This is called advance provision. Most pills can be kept up to two years after you receive them, but check the expiration date on the packaging. 

“With the Trump administration comes a lot of uncertainty about what access will look like. While he flip-flopped a lot with his words, Project 2025 is very clear about wanting to restrict access to abortion pills by mail and more generally,” Wells said. Project 2025 was written by the far-right Heritage Foundation, as well as former Trump administration officials and advisers. Wells points to how the organization boasted in 2018 that then-President Trump had implemented two-thirds of the agenda they wrote for him at the time, within two years of his presidency. “So, we fully anticipate that much of what’s in [Project 2025] will be implemented, and we advise people to be prepared.” That means ordering abortion pills in advance to keep in stock, so “if your period is late, there’s something you can do immediately that doesn’t require travel, or making an appointment, or anything.”

 

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Plan C Pill’s website also directs users to secure, pro-choice medical hotlines, like M+A Hotline or Repro Care, which offer medical guidance as needed while you complete a medication abortion or miscarriage at home. This is important because a majority of cases in which police investigate someone for self-managing their abortion come to the attention of law enforcement after health care workers report their patients. Again, abortion pills are highly safe—but, like all pregnancy outcomes, self-managing an abortion can come with criminal risk; seeking medical help from the right sources, and following simple steps to protect your digital footprint and medical privacy, can keep you safe. All of this is outlined on Plan C Pills’ website.

Wells told Jezebel that, since she and her team founded Plan C Pills 10 years ago, their goal is simple and remains the same no matter who’s in the White House: “How do we get pills more accessible to people in this country? Nothing changes for us, that’s still the objective.” They research safe, reliable vendors around the world; they test the pills; they create accurate, and accessible guidelines for buying and using abortion pills. They also connect abortion pill-seekers with U.S.-based providers, who work with abortion funds to negotiate affordable prices and offer discounts so that they’re affordable for anyone. Even without Roe v. Wade for the last two years, Wells stressed that “abortion pills are available by mail in all 50 states for $150 or less right now.” 

 

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One of Plan C Pills’ primary focuses right now is public education, Wells says. Because telemedicine access to medication abortion is “such a new thing that took off during the pandemic, it’s still unbelievable to a lot of people who are flabbergasted by this idea you can get abortion in the mail. A lot of people wonder if this is legit, if it’s safe—yes. The data shows us that over and over.” But getting the word out is especially challenging, Wells notes, when social media companies like Meta prohibit them from advertising, or flag and take down their posts without cause, or, several times now, ban and then reinstate their accounts. 

“Big tech’s monopolies on social media are very problematic, where this can happen to abortion-related information with no recourse,” Martha Dimitratou, Plan C’s digital strategist, told Jezebel in March, when the campaign raised awareness about the censoring of abortion-related resources at South by Southwest. (At SXSW, Plan C Pills set up digital billboards on trucks carrying a QR code to their website.) State legislatures have also considered bills banning internet service providers from hosting websites that provide information about medication abortion, and in July, the U.S. Senate passed KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act), which is meant to protect children on the internet, but could instead be weaponized by anti-abortion attorneys-general to block online abortion information.

 

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Wells says another actionable step the campaign wants people to take is to order its QR code stickers and put them all over our neighborhoods, and share them widely within our communities. Despite big tech’s censorship, Wells said, “we’re getting creative and thinking of ways to get the word out and get people the abortion pills they need.”

In a statement released after Trump’s victory, the campaign said, “While we can expect the worst for abortion rights, we also know that no matter what, abortion is here to stay. Activist and international providers, community groups, and online vendors will continue to provide abortion seekers with abortion pills and information about how to use them safely, no matter what may come at a federal level.”

You can find where to order abortion pills online no matter where you live at PlanCPills.org. If you or someone you know needs assistance self-managing a miscarriage or abortion, you can call the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline at (833) 246-2632 for confidential medical support, or the Repro Legal Helpline at (844) 868-2812 for confidential legal information and advice.