Americans Are Stockpiling Abortion Pills…Just in Case

https://motherjones.com/politics/abortion-pills-advance-provisio…

More Americans are stockpiling abortion pills in case they need them in the future, according to new research published Tuesday.

“I think it shows people are paying attention” to threats to access, Abigail Aiken, the study’s lead author and associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, said, emphasizing that nearly three-quarters of participants cited wanting “to ensure personal health and choice” and “to prepare for possible abortion restrictions” as their reasons for requesting advance provision.

“I think one of the perhaps unintended consequences of abortion bans, or of the Dobbs decision, is that it really does shine a light on medication abortion, and probably made it more visible to a lot of people out there,” she added.

Medication abortion already accounts for more than half of all abortions nationwide, according to the Guttmacher Institute—and Aiken’s study suggests advance provision could continue to increase as abortion restrictions mount. The highest number of requests for advance provision of the pills, she said, came not from people in states with current abortion bans, but those in states where legislators were considering future bans.

“Every time we’re seeing uncertainty, every time we’re seeing potential legislation coming, that’s when people seem to be reacting most,” Aiken said. “They see the writing on the wall—and that seems to be the biggest motivator.”