Abortion pill sales increased after Trump’s re-election

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-abortion advocates say there’s still work to be done for more restrictions access to abortion when republican Donald Trump He will return to the White House next year.

They point to federal guidance from the Democratic administration. President Joe Biden He was released around emergency abortionRequiring hospitals to provide these drugs to women whose health or life is at risk and easing prescribing restrictions for these drugs abortion pills This allowed women to order medications online with a single click.

“The work now begins to dismantle the pro-abortion policies of the Biden-Harris administration,” the powerful anti-abortion lobby Susan B. Anthony List said in a statement Wednesday. “President Trump’s pro-life accomplishments in his first term lay the foundation for his second term.”

The group declined to elaborate on what specifically they would seek to reclaim. But abortion rights advocates are preparing for abortion to be further restricted when Trump takes office. Some women also experience an increase in online orders for abortion pills in the days after Election Day.

Trump said abortion This is the states’ problem, not the federal government’s. But during the campaign, he made clear that he was appointing justices to the Supreme Court who were in the majority that rejected the national right to abortion. And there are things his administration can do, from electing judges to issuing regulations to advancing the anti-abortion agenda.

Trump unlikely to request emergency abortions from hospitals

The Trump administration is expected to reverse Biden’s controversial directive requiring emergency services to provide abortions when necessary to stabilize a woman’s health or life. The Biden administration has argued that the decades-old federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to patients in exchange for Medicare funding also applies in cases where an abortion may be necessary.

Reports of women being sent home or left untreated in hospitals in dangerous scenarios Became widespread in the United States Since the Supreme Court struck down the national right to abortion in 2022. In some cases, hospitals said state abortion bans prevented them from terminating a pregnancy.

“We are seeing the lives of pregnant people being put in danger,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement Wednesday. “We see women becoming infertile, suffering from sepsis, and now we hear about deaths.”

Goss Graves said even if the Trump administration abandons the law’s guidance, advocacy groups like his will continue the legal fight over the Biden administration’s interpretation of the law.

Some doctors and hospitals also said the federal guidance offers protection for them to perform emergency abortions in states such as Idaho and Texas, where the threat of prosecution for performing abortions hangs over decision-making processes.

Trump has said he supports exceptions for cases of rape and incest, as well as situations where a woman’s life is at risk. But he didn’t go so far as to say he supports exemptions when it comes to a woman’s health.

In rare but serious scenarios, abortion may be necessary for pregnant women to prevent organ loss, serious bleeding, or dangerous infections. In cases such as ectopic pregnancy, premature rupture of membranes and placental abruption, the fetus may still be alive, but continuing the pregnancy may be harmful. Doctors argued that the legal gray area put them in a difficult situation.

For example, a hospital in Idaho resorted to flying women out of state after a strict abortion ban went into effect, allowing abortions only to prevent women’s deaths.

The Biden administration sued Idaho, arguing the state law conflicts with federal law requiring hospitals to provide patients with stabilizing treatment, including abortions. The state changed its law to allow abortion for ectopic pregnancies, but other dangerous scenarios remain unaccounted for. The Supreme Court refused to take up the issue earlier this year, issuing a limited order paving the way for hospitals to provide emergency abortions as the case worked its way through lower courts.

But implementation of the federal law is pending in Texas, challenging the Biden administration’s guidance on emergency abortions.

Some state laws governing abortion will remain in effect under the Trump administration. On Tuesday, voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected the constitutional amendments, leaving the bans in place.

in missouriBut voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure to repeal one of the strictest bans in the country. Abortion rights amendments have also been passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved the amendment, but they will need to pass it again in 2026 to take effect.

Difficulties accessing abortion pills will continue under Trump

The ease with which women can obtain abortion pills may also be reconsidered in the Trump era.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration made abortion pills, including mifepristone, easier to obtain, allowing women to access the medication via telehealth. The agency confirmed the drug was safe through 10 weeks of pregnancy, saying side effects occurred in 0.32% of patients.

Anti-abortion advocates objected to this, arguing that the drugs were unsafe and not easily accessible without at least the personal supervision of a doctor.

Although the Supreme Court protected access to the drug earlier this year, anti-abortion advocates and conservative states They renewed their challenge in the lower courts.

Some women are worried. Telehealth company Wisp saw a spike in abortion pill orders, with a 600% increase between Election Day and the next day. In states like Florida and Texas, where medications cannot be legally shipped, the company has seen an almost 1,000 percent increase in orders for its “morning after” pills, also known as emergency birth control.

The company fills about tens of thousands of orders a month for reproductive products, including birth control pills and abortion pills, CEO Monica Cepak told The Associated Press.

Currently, women generally follow a two-stage regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol to complete a medication abortion. Cepak said the company will “closely monitor” mifepristone under the Trump administration and is prepared to switch to a misoprostol-only regimen if mifepristone is restricted.

However, Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California and an expert on reproductive health issues, said Trump could be a wild card on this issue. In the final months of the campaign, he backed away from a tougher stance on abortion; he even said he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban if it came to his desk.

Although he has solid support from anti-abortion groups, he is prepared to cut ties with allies at will.

“I don’t think we got a clear idea from him of what he was going to do,” Ziegler said.

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