Abortion Information Helplines and Other Sources of Help for US women as of 7 July 2022
National Abortion Information Hotlines: United States of America
29 July 2022
US National Network of Abortion Funds – this website is being revised and updated to cope with unprecedented traffic. Please be patient!
The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) builds power with members to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access by centering people who have abortions and organizing at the intersections of racial, economic, and reproductive justice. Member organizations work across their network to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access. Some of them work with clinics to help pay for your abortion. Some of them offer support such as transportation, childcare, translation, doula services, and somewhere to stay if you have to travel to get your abortion. Their network’s organizations are autonomous, diverse, and united to move towards a world we want to live in, where all reproductive options, including abortion, are valued and free of coercion. There are over 80 organizations in the NNAF network.
VISUAL AND TEXT: NNAF website
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PLAN C
Abortion Pills For Providers Get Involved About Plan C Donate
As we prepare for the rollback of 50 years of Roe, we have something that previous generations did not: abortion pills.
It’s essential that people know about the pills and understand how people are accessing and using them for a safe self-managed abortion, as well as the legal and medical context they need to take control over their own bodies. Even in states where abortion has been banned, people are still accessing self-managed abortion via pills and online support, and we expect this will continue no matter what the courts decide. Please:
- Share the Guide to Pills with your friends, family, and peers, as well as resources like the M+A Hotline, the ReproLegalHelpline and abortionfinder.org
- Order stickers and mini flyers to help spread the word in your community.
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WOMEN HELP WOMEN
Self-managed abortion: safe and supported (SASS)
SASS is the US project of Women Help Women, a global non-profit organization that supports the rights of people around the world to have information about and access to safe abortion with pills. Information is power. We all deserve accurate information about our bodies and reproductive health.
If you want to use abortion pills to end an unwanted pregnancy, with or without a clinician, this website provides information about how to end a pregnancy at home in the first 12 weeks. It is approved by the World Health Organization as a safe abortion method for use with or without a clinician and has been used successfully by millions around the world.
If you would like to attend a training on self-managed abortion to learn about abortion pills and to be able to share information with others in your community, contact: info@abortionpillinfo.org
All of the information in the FAQs on the website is based on protocols developed by the World Health Organization. Please contact SASS if you have any questions.
WEBSITE: https://abortionpillinfo.org/ ; Para español haz click aquí
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EUKI APP: Sexual health information & tracking
The Euki App is secure and private for menstrual period tracking, and information about contraception and abortion, including self-managed abortion, STIs, sexuality and more. The app is available for both Android and iPhone. The app does not store any of the information you enter into the app in the cloud or anywhere else—only YOU have access to it.
SOURCE: Women Help Women International Foundation
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AIDACCESS
AidAccess can offer you different service options, depending on where you live:
- In the following US states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, their US doctors can provide the pills mifepristone and misoprostol, which you will receive by mail within a few days. The cost of this service is USD 150.
- For other US states and other countries, their European doctors can provide a prescription for abortion pills with the medicines mifepristone and misoprostol. You will be informed about a trustworthy pharmacy in India who will ship the medicines to you by mail. The delivery of the packages takes 1 to 3 weeks after shipment. The cost is € 95 or USD 110.
Please let AidAccess know if you cannot afford this amount and they will try to find a solution.
The helpdesk and doctor will be available to answer any question before, during and after the abortion process. The medicines can be used safely at home as long as you have good information and access to emergency care in the rare case of complications.
If you have any questions please email info@aidaccess.org
Videos in English and español explain how to use abortion pills.
Written instructions on how to use abortion pills are in these two PDFs – pdf1 and pdf2.
[[ Please note that different to other combination packets of mifepristone-misoprostol pills, the packet from AidAccess contains one mifepristone pill and six misoprostol pills. The only difference to other brands is that there are two extra misoprostol pills. Watch the video to learn how to use the extra two pills. They should help to make the method even more effective at causing a complete abortion.]]
Website (in English): https://aidaccess.org/en/ Website (en español): https://aidaccess.org/es/
E-mail: info@aidaccess.org
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REPRO CARE
Have questions about taking abortion pills? Want to talk to someone? The healthline offers peer-based information and emotional support for anyone having or planning an abortion at home. Abortions with pills at home are safe, but you don’t have to do it alone. Their team is there to support you and share resources for before, during, and after an at-home abortion.
PHONE:+1-833-226-7821 Calls or texts in English & Spanish – 9am–9pm Pacific Time – every day.
Separate from the healthline, ReproCare are collaborating with the Midwest Access Coalition to simplify abortion funding and make telemedical abortion services more accessible. They center the people most impacted by systemic inequities and use the reproductive justice framework to transform abortion care.
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PILLS BY MAIL – PHYSICIAN-LED SOURCES AND CLINICS
Physician-led provision with fees/conditions – ASK if you need financial assistance!! – Read the whole website – details are changing regularly/more states are being added!!
Abortion on Demand https://abortionondemand.org/ – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington State – Less than 8 weeks pregnant.
Carafem https://carafem.org/at-home-abortion-pills/ – Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia – Up to 11 weeks pregnant. Phone: (855) SAY-CARA
Choix https://www.mychoix.co/abortion-care – California, Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico. Up to 10 weeks pregnant – note different young age limits per state.
Full Circle Health Center https://fullcirclehealthcenter.com/services/#abortion – New Mexico only.
Hey Jane https://www.heyjane.co/our-mission – California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, New Mexico, Washington State. Up to 10 weeks pregnant, age 18+.
Just the Pill www.justthepill.com – Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. Up to 10 weeks pregnant.
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Clinics/websites that list telehealth abortion with mailed pills to addresses in states where it is legal
There are quite a few abortion clinics that do telehealth medication abortion with mailed pills, including Whole Woman’s Health and the St. Louis/SE Illinois Planned Parenthood affiliate.
The following websites are trying to keep on top of all the changes in access. For these, you enter where you live, and you will get information about the closest available options, including by mail:
- INeedanA.com: information about abortion caregivers and funding support: https://ineedana.com/
- Abortion Finder: information about verified abortion providers: https://www.abortionfinder.org/
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MISCARRIAGE & ABORTION HOTLINE
If you need support to self-manage your miscarriage or abortion: call or text 1-833-246-2632
This is a hotline staffed by pro-abortion clinicians with years of experience in caring for miscarriage and abortion – freely giving their time. each them by phone or text.
They are available from 8AM to 11PM in all continental US time zones, and will respond within an hour. They will not ask your name or any personal details or health identifiers. Their texts and phones are confidential, private, and secure.
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REPRO LEGAL HELPLINE
Their attorneys and advocates provide legal information and support to people navigating complex laws in order to self-determine their reproductive lives…
They may also be able to give you legal advice depending on where you live and what you need. If they cannot help, they will try to connect you with a lawyer from their network in your state.
If you have been arrested, questioned by the police, or charged with a crime for abortion, they may be able to help you by finding you a lawyer in your state, or helping your lawyer with your defense.
Website in: English Spanish Simplified Chinese
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MEXICO
Sending pills to individuals in the US from Mexico is already happening
From February to April 2022, the Mexican group Las Libres sent 1,000 packets of abortion pills to people in the United States. Getting hold of more would be easy in Mexico, they said. They are getting ready if more women need it, and an increasing number of US residents are keen to help.
In the state of Texas, a group was formed to help women in the US access abortions, including abortion pills, which are easier to obtain in Mexico. In the past two years the group has received requests from over 2,000 women, many from Texas, seeking help with abortions.
The group are aware they will need to be very careful. They are setting up some Mexican phone numbers and plan to get Canadian lines, too, along with short-term ‘burner phones’ that are harder to trace. They are also using encrypted messages to organise and share abortion advice.
Access to doctor-prescribed abortion pills expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic after the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the national medicines regulator, allowed women to get the pills by mail and have an abortion at home following an online consultation. Called telemedicine, this now accounts for more than half of abortions in the US, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
At least 16 state legislatures have introduced bills to restrict administration of abortion pills or ban their use altogether. [Whether or not these are constitutional remains to be seen.]
The pills can be mailed from Mexico or the US border area at low risk. New activists are looking for more ways to obtain pills abroad and deliver them through clandestine networks. US authorities have acknowledged they have no effective way of policing orders of pills from doctors and pharmacies that are in other countries.
SOURCE: Reuters, by Daina Beth Solomon, 23 June 2022 ; VISUAL New York Times
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More Mexican feminists are helping US women get abortions, using a Latin American model
In late January 2022, nearly 70 abortion rights activists from across Mexico gathered in a city near the US-Mexico border. For three days, they met, video chatting with activists in the US, who had been unable to travel there. Together, they strategized on how to support US women to get abortion pills.
Out of that meeting, members of 30 different abortion rights groups formed what they call the Red Transfronteriza (Cross-Border Network), who would accompany US Americans through their abortions, using the World Health Organization’s protocol for safely using abortion pills without the supervision of a doctor. They would also supply abortion pills free, mailing donated pills to the United States.
On the last day of their gathering, the network held a press conference to announce their plans. The next day, 10 women had already written asking for help.
Since January, they have mailed thousands of abortion pills to the United States and guided hundreds of US Americans through their questions and concerns.
The Red Transfronteriza offers two forms of support. If women can travel there, they are welcome to cross the border and abort with in-person support from a Mexican network member. If they can’t – for reasons of cost, logistics or immigration status – then the network would mail them abortion pills, free of charge, and walk them through their abortions virtually.
In Mexico, misoprostol is available over-the-counter at most pharmacies to treat gastric ulcers. With two to three repeat doses of four pills each, if required, its use on its own is as effective as when used combined with mifepristone.
The number of requests for help soared after the Texas ban went into effect. Where one network used to receive 4-5 requests a month from the US, they are now getting hundreds. Another collective has been receiving about 300 messages monthly.
SOURCES: The Guardian, by Cecilia Nowell, 10 June 2022 ; En español: BBC Mundo, by Leire Ventas, 27 Junio 2022
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CANADA
Some abortion clinics in Canada welcome patients from the United States
Abortion is legal in Canada, but access to abortion services in Canada varies from region to region. This website includes the following abortion clinics in Canada, who have signed up to be on the list.
This list of clinics was included on the website on 28 June 2022:
- Alberta, Calgary – Kensington Clinic 403-283-9117
- British Columbia, Vancouver – CARE Program Women’s Health Centre 604-875-2022
- British Columbia, Vancouver – Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic 604-736-7878
- British Columbia, Vancouver – Every Woman’s Health Centre 604-322-6692
- British Columbia, Vancouver – Wiebe Medical Abortion Clinic 604-873-8303
- Fredericton, New Brunswick – Clinic 554 855-978-5434 / 506-261-7355
- Manitoba, Winnipeg – Morgentaler Clinic 204-477-1887
- Newfoundland, St. John’s – Morgentaler Clinic 709-754-3572
- Ontario, Ottawa – Morgentaler Clinic 613-567-3360
- Ontario, Toronto – Morgentaler Clinic 416-932-0446
- Quebec, Montreal – Morgentaler Clinic 514-351-0291
You can find out at the clinics’ websites if the clinic is associated with the National Abortion Federation (NAF) or Abortion Care Network (ACN).
The cost of an abortion in these clinics and whether financial help is possible is not stated on the website.
Canadian support organisations
Pro Choice Action Network – information about Canada Abortion Laws
National Abortion Federation Canada – legal abortion in Canada
Abortion Coverage by Region – access to abortion in Canada
SOURCE: https://www.abortionclinics.com/canada-abortion-clinics/
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MORE ON CANADA
It is NOT legal to send abortion pills across the Canadian border to the US as they are prescription medications. Telemedical provision of abortion pills in Canada for someone in the US requires the physician to be registered to practise in both Canada and the US and able to write a prescription that would be permissible in the US. Unless such doctors identify themselves, finding them will be impossible.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan wrote that crossing the border and being a patient within the Canadian health care system may be problematic, especially given variable waiting times to be seen and treated. For example, a Winnepeg clinic across the border from North Dakota (where abortion will soon be illegal) already receives 100 inquiries from Canadians for help each week and are providing as many as 30% more abortions than they receive government funding for. In addition, attending a clinic in Canada may mean you would have to pay the full cost for the services. The prices, which may be $600 or even more, will be too high for many.
To cross the border, you will need a passport, an enhanced driver’s licence, and a qualifying form of identification accepted by border police on both sides.
The US-Canadian border is a very long border, and the idea of crossing it for services is very attractive. In the past, the direction of travel for abortions was from Canada to the US in the years between the Roe v Wade decision in 1973 and 1989 when Canada’s Supreme Court got rid of all restrictive Canadian abortion laws. How times have changed.
SOURCES: Detroit News, by Hannah Mackay, 22 June 2022 ; Washington Post, by Amanda Coletta, 3 July 2022 ; Washington Post, by Amanda Coletta, 4 July 2022
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BEWARE PREGNANCY CRISIS CENTERS
Google and other search engines may misdirect as many as one in 10 searches for abortion to anti-abortion “pregnancy crisis centers” in the US, according to a new study in US states where abortion is already or may soon be made illegal. These are not clinics but anti-abortion fronts, aiming to talk you out of having an abortion. Avoid them! SOURCE: The Guardian, by Kari Paul, 9 June 2022
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SOURCES
The information in this section came primarily from the public websites of the groups listed, as well as the cited media reports. Grateful thanks to several dedicated advocates who reviewed the text and shared additional details.