You need medical care, but the earliest available appointment isn’t for weeks. Even if you could wait, you’d still have to take time off work, find childcare and somehow get to a clinic that’s an hour away. America has some of the best medical expertise in the world, but actually accessing that care is like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded.
The most radical change the pandemic brought to the U.S. health care system was the near-universal embrace of telemedicine to deliver virtual care. Telemedicine eases the strain on the system by using technology to enable a doctor’s visit without the commute. This positive effect is especially apparent in reproductive health and the expansion of abortion access.
And yet abortion care via telemedicine is under attack as the administration responsible for the fall of Roe v. Wade returns to power and as cases are litigated in conservative states across the country seeking to ban medication abortion altogether.
Anti-abortion extremists are threatened by telemedicine because it allows you, the patient, to get the care you need. Medication abortion, which involves taking two FDA-approved pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) to end an early pregnancy, now accounts for 63 percent of abortions in the U.S. But despite its safety and efficacy, conservative lawmakers are escalating efforts to restrict access to these medications.
Today one in five abortion-seekers choose to use telemedicine to receive care. As the CEO of Hey Jane, a virtual abortion clinic that’s helped over 75,000 patients access care, I can tell you firsthand: telemedicine isn’t just a pandemic-era stopgap. It is the key to enabling access in a broken health care system. This is why we must protect it from the latest attacks by anti-abortion extremists.
It’s crucial we protect telemedicine as a way to access prescription medicine, including medication abortion. Telehealth is not just more convenient — it’s transforming how health care works at a fundamental level. Since launching, my company has seen an overwhelming demand for medication abortion via telemedicine, and what we’ve learned has implications for the entire health care system.
That whole “nothing beats in-person” argument? Our data shows that 98 percent of patients actually prefer asynchronous communications, meaning they want to manage their health care on their own time, through messages and updates, rather than scheduling their lives around getting to a doctor’s office. Privacy is another key factor, with nearly half of our patients indicating privacy was what was most important to them during treatment. They want care that is discreet, fast and built around their lives.
For many patients, accessing medication abortion on their own terms is life-changing — especially in states where in-person clinics are few and far between. Take Virginia, where 93 percent of counties don’t have in-person abortion clinics, and those that do are inundated with patients from surrounding states, which have some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Even in states where abortion is legal and available, it may not actually be accessible.
Virtual abortion clinics aren’t just an alternative. They are often the only realistic option for patients who can’t take a day off work or drive hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic.
Telemedicine is democratizing health care in ways we’ve never seen before. With lower overhead costs, virtual clinics can offer more affordable care while removing the often prohibitive costs of transportation, child care and lost wages for the patient.
Skeptics said Americans wouldn’t trust telemedicine for important health-care decisions, that the technology wasn’t ready, that patients would always prefer in-person care. They were wrong on all counts. Now we must fight against conservative extremists who are trying to cherry-pick what is accessible via telemedicine as a way to police the bodies of pregnant women.
The future of the industry is about using technology to make health care work for everyone. The fight over telemedicine is, at its core, a fight over access to medication abortion. Conservative extremists know that if they can cut off access to these pills, they can effectively eliminate the abortion method of choice for the majority of Americans — in every state. We cannot let that happen.
The tools are here. The technology works. The patients want it. Elected officials must step up and protect access to this essential health care.
Kiki Freedman is the cofounder and CEO of Hey Jane.
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