Plan C

Last updated
Plan C
Formation2015
Founders
Typenon-profit organization
Website www.plancpills.org

Plan C is a non-profit organization and campaign that provides educational resources and information to increase access to medication abortion (abortion with pills) in the United States. [1] [2] It was founded in 2015 by Francine Coeytaux, Elisa Wells, and Amy Merrill as a project under the fiscal sponsorship of the National Women's Health Network. [3]

Contents

Objectives

Plan C works towards expanding access to medication abortion through the distribution of mifepristone and misoprostol at-home abortion pills ordered from the internet and delivered through the mail. [4] Their stated goal is to transform access to abortion in the United States by normalizing the self-directed option of abortion pills by mail and placing the ability to end an early pregnancy directly in the hands of anyone who seeks it. [5]

Actions

Plan C works in 4 ways.

  1. They conduct research and share information regarding how people are accessing abortion pills in the United States.
  2. They work with health care providers, reproductive health organizations, and technology innovators to establish relationships and connect individuals.
  3. They work to destigmatize and normalize self-managed abortion and call for universal access to abortion pills.
  4. They advocate for over-the-counter access to abortion pills. [5]

History

1990's

During the 1990s, Elisa Wells and Francine Coeytaux were part of the team that successfully managed to get Plan B, or the morning after pill, approved by the FDA for over-the-counter sale. [5] [6]

2016

In 2016, as the U.S. Presidential administration turned over, Plan C launched their website to share information about online abortion pill providers and the self-managed abortion process. The Plan C team began researching websites calling themselves online pharmacies and claiming to sell abortion pills, tested the pills received by mail from those websites, and published their findings as the Plan C Report Card. [5] [7]

2018

In 2018, Plan C played a significant role in the launch of the CHAT study (California Home Abortion by Telehealth) in which researchers at the University of California, San Francisco conducted a study to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of individuals who utilize virtual clinics that serve patients throughout the United States. [8] This study was a crucial step towards not only normalizing telehealth services and online access to pills but also in documenting and researching their effectiveness and safety, and validating them as a viable option for individuals seeking reproductive healthcare. [8]

2019

As of 2019, there were dozens of websites selling abortion pills and the Plan C website was receiving over 50,000 visitors per month from individuals across all 50 states in search of information on abortion pill access and reproductive rights. [4] [9]

2020

In April 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical community expedited the adoption of "no-test" protocols, which facilitated online abortion care, telehealth start-ups, and more clinics serving patients online. [10] As certain states deemed abortions nonessential medicine, and the majority of the country was subjected to "safer at home" orders restricting access to basic medical care, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) temporarily lifted restrictions on shipping mifepristone. [11] During this time, Plan C issued a "call to providers" to inform the medical community of the growing need and the opportunity to serve patients by offering telehealth abortion services. [12] Several providers launched startups, including Abortion on Demand, Choix, Hey Jane, among others. [12]

2022

In 2022, Plan C expanded their online resource directory to include organizations that offer the advance provision of abortion pills, a service that creates the option to order abortion pills in advance so they will be available if they are needed at some point in the future. Organizations listed by Plan C that offer the advance provision service include Aid Access and Forward Midwifery. [13] [14]

2023

With the Dobbs decision and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Plan C has responded by increasing the information they make available regarding alternate ways to access abortion pills and resources to help people safely self-manage their own abortions at home. [5]

Plan C documentary

The Plan C organization was the subject of a documentary film of the same name, Plan C , which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2023. [15] The film focuses on Plan C's ongoing grassroots efforts to expand access to abortion across the United States via the distribution of at-home abortion pills ordered from the internet and delivered through the mail. [15] [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mifepristone</span> Medication

Mifepristone, also known by its developmental code name RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of pregnancy. It is also effective in the second trimester of pregnancy. It is taken by mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comstock Act of 1873</span> United States anti-obscenity law

The Comstock Act of 1873 is a series of current provisions in Federal law that generally criminalize the involvement of the United States Postal Service, its officers, or a common carrier in conveying obscene matter, crime-inciting matter, or certain abortion-related matter. The Comstock Act is largely codified across title 18 of the United States Code and was enacted beginning in 1872 with the attachment of an extraneous rider to a postal service reconsolidation bill. Amended multiple times since initial enactment, most recently in 1996, the Act is nonetheless often associated with U.S. Postal Inspector and anti-vice activist Anthony Comstock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abortion in the United States</span>

In the United States, abortion is a divisive issue in politics and culture wars, though a majority of Americans support access to abortion. Abortion laws vary widely from state to state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misoprostol</span> Medication to induce abortion and treat ulcers

Misoprostol is a synthetic prostaglandin medication used to prevent and treat stomach and duodenal ulcers, induce labor, cause an abortion, and treat postpartum bleeding due to poor contraction of the uterus. It is taken by mouth when used to prevent gastric ulcers in people taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). For abortions it is used by itself or in conjunction with mifepristone or methotrexate. By itself, effectiveness for abortion is between 66% and 90%. For labor induction or abortion, it is taken by mouth, dissolved in the mouth, or placed in the vagina. For postpartum bleeding it may also be used rectally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telehealth</span> Health care by telecommunication

Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions. Telemedicine is sometimes used as a synonym, or is used in a more limited sense to describe remote clinical services, such as diagnosis and monitoring. When rural settings, lack of transport, a lack of mobility, conditions due to outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, decreased funding, or a lack of staff restrict access to care, telehealth may bridge the gap as well as provide distance-learning; meetings, supervision, and presentations between practitioners; online information and health data management and healthcare system integration. Telehealth could include two clinicians discussing a case over video conference; a robotic surgery occurring through remote access; physical therapy done via digital monitoring instruments, live feed and application combinations; tests being forwarded between facilities for interpretation by a higher specialist; home monitoring through continuous sending of patient health data; client to practitioner online conference; or even videophone interpretation during a consult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-induced abortion</span> Abortion performed by a pregnant person themselves outside the recognized medical system

A self-induced abortion is an abortion performed by the pregnant woman herself, or with the help of other, non-medical assistance. Although the term includes abortions induced outside of a clinical setting with legal, sometimes over-the-counter medication, it also refers to efforts to terminate a pregnancy through alternative, potentially more dangerous methods. Such practices may present a threat to the health of women.

MSI Reproductive Choices, named Marie Stopes International until November 2020, is an international non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. MSI Reproductive Choices as an organisation lobbies in favour of access to abortion, and provides a variety of sexual and reproductive healthcare services including advice, vasectomies, and abortions in the UK and other countries where it is legal to do so. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law.

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A medical abortion, also known as medication abortion or non-surgical abortion, occurs when drugs (medication) are used to bring about an abortion. Medical abortions are an alternative to surgical abortions such as vacuum aspiration or dilation and curettage. Medical abortions are more common than surgical abortions in most places around the world.

Francine Coeytaux, founder of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health, is an American-based French public health specialist and abortion rights activist who has developed and evaluated family planning and reproductive health programs. She is known for her work on comprehensive reproductive health services, abortion and new reproductive technologies. She was an Associate at the Population Council in New York City where she started an international program to address the problem of unsafe abortion, collaborated on the public introduction of Norplant and RU 486, and helped develop reproductive health activities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

carafem American nonprofit organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aid Access</span> Abortion services provider

Aid Access is a nonprofit organization that provides access to medication abortion by mail to the United States and worldwide. It describes its work as a harm reduction strategy designed to provide safe access to mifepristone and misoprostol for those able to become pregnant in the United States who may not otherwise have access to abortion or miscarriage management services. People are able to manage their own abortion with remote access to a physician and a help-desk for any questions. The website is available in English, Spanish, and Dutch.

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Abortion in Maryland is legal at all stages of pregnancy. The first laws regulating abortion in the state were passed in 1867 and 1868, banning abortion except by a physician to "secure the safety of the mother." Abortion providers continued to operate both within and outside of the law. Legal enforcement became more strict from the 1940s through 60s, with numerous police raids on abortion providers. In 1968, Maryland passed a liberalized abortion law that clarified the wording of the previous law, allowing abortion in hospital settings in cases of rape, severe fetal deformity, or when life and health were endangered.

<i>Plan C</i> (film) 2023 American documentary film

Plan C is a 2023 American documentary film produced and directed by Tracy Droz Tragos. The film centers around ongoing grassroots efforts to provide access to abortion across the United States through the distribution of abortion pills in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, 602 U.S. 367 (2024), was a United States Supreme Court case to challenge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s approval of mifepristone, a drug frequently used in medical abortion procedures. The plaintiffs, led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), argued that the FDA did not properly approve the use of the drug mifepristone for pregnancy termination under Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act regulations and asked for an injunction to withdraw the drug's approval, thus removing it from the market. AHM's suit followed the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, which reversed Roe v. Wade and asserted there was no constitutional right to abortion at the federal level, leading conservative states and groups to further restrict abortion access.

Mayday Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that educates on medication abortion and how to access it in the United States. It was founded in 2022 in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) court decision that limited access to abortion in many U.S. states. Mayday educates on self-managed abortion and does not sell or distribute the abortion pill. Mayday was founded after the leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The organization launched on the day of the Dobbs decision.

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, several states have enacted abortion shield laws to protect abortion access. The goal of these laws is to ensure that providers can perform abortions for patients who traveled from states where abortion is illegal; and also to protect telehealth actions, when the provider prescribes abortion pills to a patient while the patient is within an antiabortion state.

Hey Jane is a New York City-based healthcare company that provides abortion-related healthcare services in the United States. The original focus of Hey Jane was to provide medication abortion services to women, particularly women who were unable to conveniently visit abortion providers.

References

  1. ↑ "PLAN C: Learn to access at-home abortion pill options online". Plan C.
  2. ↑ Adams, Patrick (27 April 2017). "Spreading Plan C to End Pregnancy". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Tzortzis, Andreas (5 April 2018). "Profile: Francine Coeytaux". Ageist.
  4. 1 2 Khazan, Olga (12 October 2021). "The Abortion Backup Plan No One Is Talking About". The Atlantic.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Us". Plan C. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  6. ↑ "FROM SECRET TO SHELF: How collaboration is bringing emergency contraception to women" (PDF). Pacific Institute for Women’s Health. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Plan C Report Card for online abortion pill suppliers" (PDF). CNN. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Collins, Lauren (July 5, 2022). "The Complicated Life of the Abortion Pill: A French doctor's invention and post-Roe America". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  9. ↑ Baker, Carrie N. (June 3, 2022). "Funding Abortion Pills By Mail: 'Abortions Don't Wait'". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  10. ↑ Smith, Pam Belluck; Mitch (April 18, 2020). "How Abortion Is Being Pushed to the Margins Amid the Pandemic". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  11. ↑ Murphy Winter, Hannah (May 7, 2022). "Inside the Fight to Make Abortions-by-Mail Possible — No Matter Which State You Live In". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  12. 1 2 Leonard, Ben (May 11, 2022). "A scramble for telemedicine abortion". Politico. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  13. ↑ Cohen, Rachel (June 22, 2022). "Should you keep abortion pills at home, just in case?". Vox. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  14. ↑ "How to Get Abortion Pills Online by Mail". Plan C. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  15. 1 2 Oller, Jacob (January 23, 2023). "Abortion Pill Documentary Plan C Is an Affecting, Overwhelming Political Maelstrom". Paste . Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  16. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (January 19, 2023). "How 'Plan C' Director Tracy Droz Tragos Plans to Make Noise About Abortion Access at Sundance Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  17. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (January 27, 2023). "'Plan C' Review: Sensitive Doc Depicts Warriors for a Women's Right to Choose". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 31, 2023.
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