Requests for contraceptives, including long-term birth control and so-called "morning after" pills, and abortion pills soared after President-elect Donald Trump won the November 5 election.
Since Trump -- who took credit for the end of federal abortion rights after he nominated three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022 -- defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, who promised to restore reproductive rights nationwide, more people are turning to ways to prevent pregnancy.
Doctors told The Associated Press (AP) that there has been a surge in requests for long-term birth control and permanent sterilizations across the country since the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, companies that sell emergency contraception and abortion pills say they're seeing significant increases in requests from people who are stockpiling medications.
Winx Health, the seller of emergency contraception Restart, saw a 966 percent spike in sales in the 60 hours following the election compared with the week before. Meanwhile, sales of "value packs" of Restart, which contained four doses instead of one, were up over 7,000 percent in the past week.
Telehealth company Wisp, meanwhile, saw sales of its abortion pills increase 600 percent between November 5 and November 6. The company also saw a 460 percent spike in sales of its emergency contraception and birth control offerings from November 6 to November 11.
When Do Birth Control and Abortion Pills Expire?
Mifepristone, a medication typically used with misoprostol to perform a medical abortion, has a shelf life of roughly five years, according to Plan C, an organization that provides information about medical abortions. Meanwhile, misoprostol has a shelf life of about two years, Plan C says.
Dr. Clayton Alfonso, an OB-GYN at Duke University in North Carolina, had two patients asking to replace their IUDs (intrauterine device) hours after Trump won a second term in the White House. Meanwhile, over the next few days, three women asked about getting their tubes tied.
An IUD is a long-acting reversible contraception inserted into a patient's uterus.
Alfonso said his patients want to replace still-effective IUDs and "restart" the 3-to-12-year clock on them before Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
"I saw this bump after the Trump election in 2016" and after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Alfonso said. "But the patients seem more afraid this time."
Alfonso predicts that the spike in birth control and abortion pills may level out as it did in 2016 and 2022. If Trump's incoming administration "is not focused on health care right away," he said, "then I think it'll go to the back of people's minds until it picks up in the media."
Doctors agree that confusion around "morning after" pills may explain some of the stockpiling.
Winx co-founder Cynthia Plotch said many people seem confused about the difference between emergency contraception and abortion pills.
A 2023 poll by KFF, a health policy research organization, found that a majority of respondents said they know emergency contraception and abortion pills aren't the same, but only 27 percent knew emergency contraception cannot end a pregnancy.
Alfonso believes most people are stockpiling "morning after" pills for the same reason they are requesting longer-term methods of birth control -- to avoid abortion by preventing pregnancy.