Demand for birth control and abortion pills in the United States has seen a rise in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, The New York Times reports.
According to the newspaper, women in the country, especially in the nine states that have banned abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, seem to fear that they will shortly be struggling to get access to prophylactics.
“Just the thought of something happening to my daughter - whether by force or by her choice - and there’s an unwanted pregnancy, I want to be able to handle that,” said Katie Thomas, a 42-year-old resident of Little Rock who bought abortion pills for her 16-year-old daughter after learning that abortion would be outlawed in the state of Arkansas.
“If I need to handle that on my own, then I will,” she added.
Thomas also told the newspaper that she stocked up on emergency contraceptives in case her 21-year-old son and his girlfriend need it.
Lauren Frazier, spokeswoman for the Planned Parenthood Southeast in Atlanta, Georgia, reportedly said that that the organization was receiving more calls from people concerned over their dwindling “options surrounding pregnancy”.
“They want to know how many birth control pills they can stockpile,” she noted, adding that the organization also received questions about emergency contraception, vasectomies and tubal ligations.
And Kiki Freeman, chief executive of start-up Hey Jane that provides telemedicine abortions in six states, said that patient demand has doubled since the Supreme Court's decision on Roe v Wade.
On 24 June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that essentially declared abortion to be a constitutional right in the United States.
This development was followed by protests in major US cities that erupted immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision, and a number of states moved to enact abortion bans via the so-called “trigger laws”.