It’s Easy to Spread the Word About Safe and Effective Abortion Pills

Plan C makes stickers about becoming "un-pregnant" that you can put up in public places.

By Susan Rinkunas  |  August 22, 2022 | 10:13pm
AbortionPolitics
It’s Easy to Spread the Word About Safe and Effective Abortion Pills
Photo:ROBYN BECK/Getty Images; Plancpills.org (Getty Images)

College students are helping spread the word about abortion pills in states where abortion is heavily restricted or banned by placing stickers in school bathroom stalls or other public places, Vice News reported on Monday. The stickers read, “Need to be un-pregnant?” and include a QR code that sends people to Plan C, a pill information website. A second design says, “Your guide to abortion pills by mail.”

The abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol were approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago for use early in pregnancy and essentially induce a miscarriage. You can even order the pills before you’re pregnant just to have them on hand. Currently, 19 states ban telemedicine abortion but Plan C has information on its site on how to get them shipped in from an abortion provider overseas. (It’s the legendary Rebecca Gomperts via her service Aid Access. State bans on telemedicine abortion don’t apply to Gomperts, whose medical license wouldn’t be at risk.)

Medication abortion made up more than half of all abortions in the U.S. in 2020, but not nearly enough people know the pills exist. A June 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 60 percent of women between ages 18 to 49—and 73 percent of all adults—hadn’t heard of mifepristone or medication abortion.

Vice News spoke to students who plastered the stickers up in Texas, Missouri, and Kansas, and noted that since Plan C’s sticker program launched in 2021, they’ve distributed more than half a million—132,000 of which were given to people who said they were students.

I’ll let you in on a secret: You don’t have to be a college student to do this! Plan C will ship stickers to anyone on a “pay what you can” basis, and you can put them up in bathroom stalls in airports, stadiums, coffee shops, and bars. If you feel comfortable doing so more openly, slap some on lampposts or other high-visibility spots. Just keep in mind that Texas and Oklahoma have bounty hunter-style abortion bans in effect that criminalize aiding and abetting abortions in the state, so it’s unwise to get caught on camera plastering abortion stickers around town, or talking about it on social media.

Plan C currently says that they’re experiencing a backlog due to an influx of orders and that delivery may take a few weeks, though people can print their own using sticker paper. Happy stickering!

 
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