4 hours Ago
The day after the Nov. 5 election I learned that emergency contraception has a shelf life of four years. When I mentioned that fact to my teenage daughter, she already knew.
"Yeah, have you seen the link where you can get it for free?" she asked. "No. I obviously don't need it, but how do you know about it?" I replied.
"Mom, everyone knows. I'll probably get it before I go to college," she said. As her parent, I was reassured that she knew how to access resources if necessary.
Social media campaigns by the local nonprofit Take Control Initiative successfully tapped into the bubbles of young women. Also, my daughter and I had a bigger talk about more consistent birth control when she felt it necessary. With information about sex, I don't hold anything back with my kids, even if they prefer that I show more restraint.
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Supreme Court justices who helped overturn abortion rights in 2022's Dobbs decision — an accomplishment he bragged about on the campaign trail. But anti-abortion activists aren't stopping there. They have expanded their focus to seek bans and restrictions on contraception.
With a Trump second term, anxiety is rising over the potential of more losses in women's reproductive choices. The president-elect is inconsistent on his position regarding more restrictions on birth control. The Associated Press reported a 966% increase in sales of emergency contraception at Winx Health , an online store for women's health products, in the 60 hours after the election.
Sales of "value packs" — four doses instead of one — were up more than 7,000% within the week. Emergency contraception does not end a pregnancy and is currently legal in all states. Morning-after pills delay or prevent the release of an egg from the ovaries, interrupting ovulation.
They are 95% effective if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex, but that lowers to 58% if taken four to six days later. Locally, the Take Control Initiative has temporarily suspended taking orders for its free emergency contraception kits because of the surge in requests. Each kit includes the Julie brand of the morning-after pill, two pregnancy tests, six condoms and two packets of lubrication.
TCI went from filling 2,487 kits in October to nearly 9,000 kits so far this month, said Executive Director Laura Bellis. The day before the election, the nonprofit received 102 requests for kits. The day after, the number shot up to 1,084, and then it jumped to 2,451 three days later.
The requests haven't let up. "We didn't do any specific targeting or anything different," Bellis said. "This is completely organic, but we are seeing these trends across the country right now.
" TCI was founded in 2010 to expand access to birth control in Tulsa County but has since expanded statewide in distributing emergency contraception. It works with 22 clinic sites to defray costs and eliminate barriers to all birth control. The nonprofit is supported through private philanthropists and a small portion of federal Title X funds.
Costs for the emergency contraception kits are kept low, with volunteers assembling the kits and the agency working directly with Julie Inc. on a program to get the morning-after pill at a discounted price or free. Bellis said the company donates more than $1 million worth of the product.
However, because of the national demand for emergency contraception, the Julie company has exhausted its in-kind donations through the end of the year. To meet the local demand, TCI spent about $25,000 to buy 5,000 morning-after pills. Volunteers are working to get the pending orders into the mail.
"It's always a good thing when people are pro-active about access to a public heath resource," Bellis said. "It shows how popular it is — that this is something people need and want to receive." Bellis said emerging data and anecdotes from other health care clinics are revealing more requests for vasectomies, tubal ligations and birth control prescriptions.
A similar jump in demand occurred immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court released its Dobbs decision.
TCI went from filling 50 to 90 kits a year to about 10,000 annually after the right to an abortion was revoked, Bellis said. "These key political moments drive resource requests because access is on the line," she said. "A lot of people are being proactive to have resources on hand and in their medicine cabinet.
There are a lot of parents getting resources for their daughters, and young people are seeking this." Last weekend, TCI volunteers put together 1,500 kits, and nearly that amount will be completed this weekend. "This speaks to the uncertainty about what resources will be available to people but also to confusion about what emergency contraception is," Bellis said.
"It does not stop an active pregnancy. A lot of medical falsehoods are repeated in lawmaking spaces. "Evidence indicates everyone, or at least a very high rate of people, support contraception access.
But with the misunderstanding of how emergency contraception works there is a fear that access to it will be caught in the crossfire." The Tulsa World is where your story lives.
