Badass Women are Leading the Way

I want to begin with game changing news. Choix, (pronounced choice), a telehealth start-up providing reproductive health care consultations online, announced it will provide abortion medication to people before they’re pregnant.

This service, called “advance provision.” It has been provided by AidAccess, but Choix is the first domestic organization to take this step and enable people to completely control if, when and how they want to have an abortion. Choix co-founder and chief executive officer Cindy Adam told CBS MoneyWatch, "Advance provision is the same medication, it's just providing the pills in case a patient needs them in the future and decides to use them."

Advance provision directly mitigates the harmful impact of bans, waiting periods and closed clinics. it ensures better, chapter, faster, more private access to abortion medication. 

Choix is currently supporting patients in California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine and New Mexico, and they are continuing to expand.  The pills are sent with detailed instructions for their use, and people who use them are encouraged to connect with a clinician as necessary.  (note: AidAccess provides abortion medication in advance to people in every state.)

But that’s just the beginning of the good news:  these prescriptions are being filled and mailed by Honeybee Health, an online pharmacy co-founded by Dr. Jessica Nouhavandi. Honeybee is a critical part of the online ecosystem for abortion medication. It was the first online pharmacy to fulfill prescriptions for abortion medication and can provide the medications much faster than overseas pharmacies.

In short, our new chapter in repro rights is being led by badass, entrepreneurial women.

Let’s compare the new model of advance provision with the traditional model of care. We need both models, but they are different and provide different opportunities for people to access the care they want:

Of course, anyone who wants to see a clinician in person should be able to do that. However, for many people, the model of virtual consultations and pills privately mailed when they want them will be enormously empowering. 

These women entrepreneurs are so smart and courageous, and we are lucky to have them fighting the good fight!

Speaking of badass women. Obstetricians for Reproductive Justice launched last week! Drs. Jenn Conti, Heather Irobunda and Jennifer Lincoln are traveling the country sharing stories of what is happening in post-Roe America.

Michigan gets abortion on the ballot. It wasn’t easy, but Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled last week that the question of adding abortion rights to the state’s constitution will be on the November ballot. The problem was the spacing of letters and words on the original petition. Really. Seems like a desperate group of anti’s working overtime to keep people from voting for human rights, but you’re not surprised, are you?

Ballot initiative tracker. Speaking of ballot initiatives, Open Secrets just announced a new tool to track what’s on the ballot in every state.

Of course, now that the anti’s have seen how much public enthusiasm there is for codifying abortion rights in state constitutions, it will become harder to get these initiatives on the ballot, but we have to keep at it!

Things to do today:

1.     Share news of Choix’ new advance provision service with everyone you know. And, if you know any investors, please tell them to take a look at Choix and Honeybee Health, they need more financial capital to expand and meet the demand for their services.

2.     Sign up for updates from Obstetricians for Repro Health.

3.     Find out what your state’s rules for ballot initiatives are at Ballotpedia (just in case you need one!).