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Following last week’s electionsmany young women are coming to terms with their new reality: Reproductive rights and access to sexual and reproductive health care will almost certainly be affected when Donald Trump and JD Vance take office in January.

If conservatives succeed, contraceptives of all kinds could become much less accessible and/or much more expensive nationwide, and abortion could be banned altogether (more on these plans below) . In response, many women across the country have decided to stock up on birth control pills and emergency contraceptives (like Plan B) now to ensure that they and their loved ones will never run out of the medications they need.

“I’m going to ask my doctor what my prescription is and I plan to take more Plan B,” says Renée, 35. Cosmos. “I don’t trust this new administrator.” Nicolette, 23, has already put her plans into practice: “I’m going to have my IUD replaced early and I ordered Plan B just in case.” Sydney, 25, says she went the morning of Election Day to get her birth control prescription refilled and picked it up immediately. “I have about six more months left now.”

Other women choose to place orders for the abortion pillaka mifepristone, available by mail via telehealth since December 2021.

“My next steps will be to replace my IUD and then figure out how many abortion pills I can keep on hand,” says Abbey, 25. “I know they will be available in the immediate future, but obviously, seeing Roe deer canceled, combined with the possibility of losing Obamacare next year… I want to give myself options in advance. »

Tamarah, 33, is postpartum with her first child and now fears having a second baby during Trump’s next term. “Am I overreacting and thinking about buying abortion pills, God forbid, if I need them, if I were to miscarry the next time I get pregnant?” she said. “Should I go back on birth control? It’s so scary to have to think about all of this.”

These women are not alone: ​​Americans in general are worried about their reproductive future, and the numbers bear it out.

Yes, the election results triggered a massive general increase in purchases of birth control and abortion drugs and services.

According to Planned Parenthoodtraffic to their website soared on November 6, the day after the elections. Compared to the previous day, visits to its tubal ligation (tube tying) page increased by 1,700%, traffic to its vasectomies page increased by 1,200%, and clicks to its pages increased by 1,200%. general information about the IUD and how to get an IUD increased by 500% and 1,200%, respectively.

In-person appointment bookings have also increased, says Danika Severino Wynn, CMN, vice president of care and access for Planned Parenthood. Cosmos. Compared to the previous day, scheduled vasectomy appointments increased by 1,200%, IUD appointments increased by more than 760%, contraceptive implant appointments increased by 350%, and appointments for gender-affirming care increased by 140%.

Over-the-counter and direct-to-consumer contraceptive brands have also seen a dramatic increase in demand. Strandfor example, saw orders for medical abortions increase by 600% between November 5 and 6. On November 6, emergency contraceptive sales increased by almost 1,000%, contraceptive sales increased by 50%, and emergency contraceptive sales for new patients increased by 1,650%.

Health Winxwho sells the morning after pill Reboottell Cosmos that they sold 7 times more product on November 6 than the previous week. 75% of these purchases were value packs rather than single doses. OTC Cadenceanother DTC brand, saw a 70% increase in traffic to its website on November 6 and saw 5x more orders in one day than it typically sees in a week.

History repeats itself and people are more prepared than ever for it.

Planned Parenthood tells Cosmos that they saw similar trends in 2022, after the reversal of Roe v. Wadewhich ended the constitutional right to abortion, and in 2016, after Trump was first elected.

“When Roe v. Wade was knocked down, I went online and bought a bunch of Plan B to have just in case, for me, my friends, my family, even strangers,” content creator Kelsey Kotzur shared on 7 November in a TikTok post this has since garnered nearly 200,000 views.

Many women have also turned to long-acting contraceptive methods, such as IUDs and implants, at increased rates in 2016 and 2022.

“When Trump won in 2016, I went that week to get an IUD after taking the pill,” recalls Charlotte, 24. and are notoriously conservative. I didn’t want to risk not being able to access birth control and figured it was a safer option.

That said, interest in long-acting contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, and abortion pills appears to be higher than ever in the past week. “(Demand) is higher than it was after Dobbs“, a representative of HelpAccessa non-profit organization that provides access to medical abortion by mail, says Cosmos.

Is it necessary to stockpile contraceptive medications and plan long-term reproductive care measures?

There is certainly cause for concern, and it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has been hesitant at best about whether or not he would limit access to reproductive health care. In Mayhe said he was “studying” policies that might restrict an individual’s right to contraceptives in some states, but later walked back his views on social media. In a April interview with TIME, he said he would leave it up to states to decide whether or not they wanted to monitor pregnancies or criminally prosecute women who had abortions.

As a reminder, Trump proudly accepted the responsibility for the overthrow of Roe v. Wadewhat is gone 21 states with a total or partial ban on abortion. In many of these states, doctors can be punished with prison or fines to provide abortion care.

In the TIME interview, Trump also mentioned that he would make a “big statement” about the future of mifepristone and whether or not women should have access to it. He promised the statement would be released in 14 days, but that never happened. In a press conference in August, he still refused to rule out the possibility of restrictions on mifepristone.

Then there is Project 2025the ultra-conservative political manual, which Trump claims not to know about, despite more than half of its authors who were part of his administration and/or his campaign and transition teams. The detailed document, written by far-right think tank The Heritage Foundation, proposes reducing medical abortion, denying access to abortion care even in emergency situations, and removing public funding for contraceptives. (You can read more about the plan and how it will affect reproductive health. here.)

Even if access to contraceptives, emergency contraceptives and the abortion pill remains unchanged, these medications could become much more expensive than they currently are.

Trump has, once again, was not clear on whether or not he will dismantle the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), a reform law that guarantees free birth control for all women in the United States since 2012. If it is changed or rolled back (as Project 2025 recommends), 55 million women could lose access to free birth control and other preventative services, according to the National Women’s Law Centerand 48 million women could lose their free emergency contraceptives, according to the Center for American Progress.

What to know if you plan to stock up on contraceptives yourself:

In a recent post on InstagramDr. Jennifer Lincoln said you should order what you think you need. “Be prepared, but don’t interfere with others’ access.” She suggests looking at the Plan C Pills Website for more information on obtaining mail-order abortion pills in each state. Likewise, AidAccess tells Cosme: “There are enough abortion medications available that people don’t have to panic.”

If you plan to collect a medicine in response, be sure to research its shelf life and take a look at the expiration date before putting it away. In general, birth control pills have a shelf life between 1 and 5 yearsemergency contraceptive pills have a shelf life of 3-4 yearsand abortion pills have a shelf life of 2 years.

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