The Government’s Website on Reproductive Rights Is Gone: Here’s an Important Fact Sheet

In 2022, the White House launched reproductiverights.gov to help people understand what rights were available to them sans Roe v. Wade. The Trump administration appears to have shut it down.

By Kylie Cheung  |  January 21, 2025 | 12:37pm
Photo: Getty Images AbortionPolitics
The Government’s Website on Reproductive Rights Is Gone: Here’s an Important Fact Sheet

Within hours of Donald Trump assuming the presidency, the federal government’s official website on navigating reproductive rights without Roe v. Wade disappeared. The site, reproductiverights.gov, once functioned as a Know Your Rights fact sheet: “Reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is an essential part of your health and well-being,” a statement on the now-defunct page read, according to CBS News. “While Roe was overturned, abortion remains legal in many states, and other reproductive health care services remain protected by law.” The webpage also offered information about medication abortion, which “has been approved by the FDA and is safe and effective when used correctly.”

The Biden administration first rolled out the webpage in 2022 after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling. It served as a basic primer for understanding the incredibly complex, constantly changing legal landscape surrounding reproductive rights post-Dobbs.

It’s now scrubbed from the internet.

Trump repeatedly lied on the campaign trail that he wouldn’t touch abortion rights if elected, but if you at any point believed that from the man who takes credit for ending Roe, I’ve got a bridge to sell you! He pledged to leave abortion to the states, which isn’t possible, and said he’d be “great for women and their reproductive rights”; sometimes he tried to avoid addressing abortion at all, at one point demanding that a reporter “stop talking about” it. On Inauguration Day, he didn’t even mention reproductive rights in passing, or sign any related executive orders. But this—the removal of reproductiverights.org—speaks volumes about his priorities.

This appears to be the first ominous step the new administration will take to further erode our rights to bodily autonomy; it may seem small, especially compared to the other actions that experts warn are imminent—like a crackdown on abortion pills, or defunding family planning clinics. But informing people about their rights, especially when the legal landscape has become so confusing, is essential, and taking that away is terrifying.

It’s been said over and over, often by abortion funds, that Trump and the feckless Democrats who helped bring us here don’t take care of us—we take care of each other. That simple reality will be vital to surviving and moving through the next four years and beyond. So, if the federal government refuses to offer a simple, lousy webpage about the reproductive rights and resources available to us, bookmark or screenshot this page, and find a fact sheet below.

If you need an abortion, find your best options using INeedAnA.com’s search function

The website is safe, regularly updated by abortion rights advocates, and is a guaranteed way to make sure you’re finding real reproductive health clinics—not predatory, anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers that often pose as abortion clinics and manipulate online search functions.

At INeedAnA.com, you can enter your ZIP code and birthday to find the abortion laws in your state, the nearest clinic, and the options available to you, which could include traveling to the nearest out-of-state clinic or ordering abortion pills, which remains legal.

AbortionFinder.org also shows you the laws in your state and the clinic closest to you if you provide your ZIP code, and provides a directory for financial, travel, medical, legal, and emotional support services. The Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS) also provides indispensable information about seeking abortion care by moderating the abortion subreddit on Reddit—thankless but indispensable work to combat disinformation and meet people where they are.

For help paying for an abortion, visit the National Network of Abortion Funds’ online directory 

Abortion funds are stretched incredibly thin lately, but funds across the country are still striving to bridge economic barriers and get people abortion care. You can find funds in your community at NNAF’s website.

Need abortion pills?

Organizations like Plan C Pills, Hey Jane, Carafem, and Aid Access offer information and services to help you buy medication abortion online. Plan C Pills’ website also offers guidance on buying medication abortion in advance, whether you’re pregnant or not—an option you should certainly consider right now while purchasing medication abortion by mail remains legal. (We’ll update this page if that changes.)

Plan C Pills lists prices for medication abortion on its webpage, but the organization told Jezebel in November that they work with clinics, abortion funds, and vendors to find a price that works for the abortion seeker, including sometimes, free of cost.

Be mindful of your privacy and digital footprint. Learn best practices.

The Digital Defense Fund offers a thorough, simple guide to protecting your privacy when you search for information about abortion and pregnancy, here. This is vital whether you live in an abortion-banned state or not. As we’ve so often seen, individuals in all states have faced criminal charges and surveillance for pregnancy outcomes that don’t stem from abortion laws, but do stem, in part, from the heightened culture of surveillance and stigma that’s emerged post-Roe.

Use encrypted messaging platforms like Signal to talk about abortion; earn how to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN; know which medical groups to contact for medical advice about miscarriage, abortion, and pregnancy, as some have pledged not to call the cops on people seeking help, which happens far more often than it should. Those groups include the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline, which operates between 8 a.m. and 1 a.m. ET.

Keep these legal resources on hand.

Currently, no state has an abortion ban that threatens abortion seekers or patients with criminal penalties. But long before the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling, there were cases of people facing state policing and criminalization for their pregnancy outcomes, including self-managed abortion. So, whether you think you’ll ever find yourself in the crosshairs of law enforcement for a miscarriage or abortion in the future or not, know the resources available to you. 

If/When/How is a reproductive justice organization that operates a hotline for legal questions as well as the Repro Legal Defense Fund, which covers legal fees for people facing criminal charges for their miscarriages or abortions. Pregnancy Justice offers legal representation and resources to people facing criminal threats or charges over their pregnancies.

If the swiftness with which the new administration appears to have scrapped reproductiverights.org from the internet is any indicator, there are dark times ahead. But so many people out there will never, ever stop fighting to make sure you have options. Consider donating to the groups listed above, or learning about other opportunities to volunteer or support their work.

 
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