Demand has skyrocketed • The doctor sounds the alarm: “Never seen anything like it”
Doctors are warning of an increased demand for abortion pills – after Trump, who has been singled out as an opponent of abortion rights, won the US presidential election.
– We have never seen this before, says Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of the organization Aid Access, one of the main suppliers of abortion pills in the United States.
It has barely been two days since it was clear that Donald Trump will win the presidential election in the United States. But his policies have already begun to have an effect.
Healthcare workers in the country are warning of a sharp increase in demand for abortion pills. Demand is also high for so-called gender-affirming medication used by transgender people who fear the drugs will be banned when Trump takes office. This reports The Guardian.
– We have never experienced anything like this before, says doctor Rebecca Gomperts.
Huge demand
The Gomperts have founded the non-profit organization Aid Access, one of the leading providers of abortion pills that mail drugs to the United States and around the world. She is part of a team of eight doctors and 15 other people who work with the organization.
The organization usually works to send around 9,000 abortion pills a month. But when news of Trump’s victory spread, they received more than 5,000 requests for abortion pills in less than 12 hours.
– I can see all the new requests that come in, says Rebecca Gomperts.
“Reproductive Apocalypse”
Caregivers for women and transgender people have been inundated with questions about services they fear could be banned, the newspaper reports.
Digital healthcare service Wisp has seen a 300 percent increase in requests for emergency contraceptives. Another supplier of abortion pills has seen a 625 percent increase in traffic to its website.
“It’s clear that people are trying to plan for the reproductive apocalypse that we expect will occur during a Trump presidency,” Elisa Wells, co-founder of provider Plan C told the newspaper.
Fact: Abortion rights in the United States
In ten US states, parallel to the presidential election, votes have been taken to strengthen or expand the right to abortion. In Florida, voters have said no to overturning the state’s tough abortion laws, according to the AP news agency.
Several American states say yes to constitutionally securing the right to abortion
In Colorado – which already has among the most liberal abortion laws in the United States – voters, on the other hand, have agreed to secure the right to abortion in the state constitution, AP reports.
Missouri, Arizona, Nevada, Maryland, New York and Montana also voted yes to expanded constitutional protection for the right to abortion. For Nevada, another vote is required, in 2026, for the change to go through.
Trump has said he does not intend to sign a federal abortion ban and that states should decide their own policies.
But experts have pointed to how a new Trump administration could restrict abortion nationwide without outright banning it.