abortion pills have entered their villain era

and we love to see it

Yesterday was a special day and that’s my favorite time to write to you because it means I get to deliver you some good news!

While news organizations enthusiastically live-streamed the absolute slaughtering of Kevin McCarthy’s reputation, we also got to witness a historic moment in abortion rights access. Thanks to an FDA ruling that quietly came through yesterday afternoon, it will be possible to obtain abortion pills at your local pharmacy. You’ll still need a prescription from a doctor or health care provider, but this is a huge decision that will have a meaningful impact on abortion access. Pharmacies will need to enlist and voluntarily participate and there’s no guarantee that they will, and it will only apply to states where abortion is legal, but even with these limitations, it’s a spectacular step in making abortion pills more mainstream and easier to get for women. This also comes after Plan B was rightfully removed from being labelled an abortion pill, because it isn’t. So while there is lots to be angry about, like abortion being technically illegal in a dozen states, the rate of progress is also palpable, because most abortions don’t happen in clinics, they happen with pills.

And even before this new surprise ruling, abortion pills have been available for women in all fifty states, with the help of organizations like Mayday (which full disclosure, I sit on the board of) that provide women with a simple way to obtain an abortion, even if it’s illegal in their state through mail forwarding services. Aid Access has also more than doubled the amount of abortion pills they’ve sent to the Unites States since roe was overturned. And while I don’t have data to back this one up yet, knowledge about abortion pills seems to have increased dramatically since the Supreme Court try to shut it down. So in other words, abortion pills have always just been doing their thing, but now they are really coming into their own and getting the fame and recognition they deserve.

If abortion pills were sentient, they’d be whispering Kelly Clarkson’s what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger in their ears of antichoice lawmakers right now. Like any woman in her villain era, abortion pills are living unapoletigicaly and thriving off the judgement and attention that their independence in creating around them. Anti-choice politicians tried to bury abortion pills, but it turns out abortion pills were seeds, and you can’t stop a seed from growing.