Report: Requests for abortion pills spike following SB 8 passage in Texas

AUSTIN, TEXAS (KXAN) — A report published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and led by a University of Texas at Austin researcher shows a significant increase in Texans requesting abortion pills since SB 8 went into effect.

Senate Bill 8, known as the Texas heartbeat bill, prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Fetal heartbeats can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy before most women even know they are pregnant.

According to the report, between Oct. 1, 2020 and May 9, 2021, there was a mean (average) request of 3.7 requests for pills per day to Aid Access from Texas. A small increase occurred in mid-May when SB 8 was returned from the House for final passage.

In September when SB 8 first went into effect, requests to Aid Access increased to 1180% which came out to roughly 85.7 requests per day from Texas abortion seekers.

"Although we cannot pinpoint the exact reason for the distinctive pattern, uncertainty about eligibility and clinic appointment cancellations may have been associated with the peak increase, whereas grassroots abortion funds and clinics connecting Texans with care out of state likely were associated with the subsequent decrease," wrote researchers in the joint study.

Following the peak, the requests dipped but still remained above the baseline which came out to about 9.1 requests a day vs the previous 3.7.

Since Sep. 2021, the average number of requests has been around 8.2 requests per day which is still 174% higher than the previous baseline of 3.7 requests a day.

The study showed that during the same period, the mean daily requests from the other 49 states were much smaller.

Overall, Aid Access received 1,831 requests from Texas for self-managed abortion in Sep. 2021.

It's important to note the limitations of the study. The study cannot recognize whether or not all requests resulted in abortions nor the prevalence of other self-management methods.

About Aid Access:

Aid Access is an international organization that offers abortion medication to people. It's not new.

Since 2018, pregnant people could request abortion-inducing medication from AidAccess, get a prescription from a licensed physician through the service, and have it mailed to their home in discreet packaging — without visiting a clinic.

This year, Texas lawmakers passed two new laws restricting abortion: one banning abortion once fetal cardiac activity is detected (usually around six weeks into a pregnancy) and the other banning abortion medication being delivered through the mail. But, neither has managed to stop online abortion pill providers from delivering abortion medication to those who want it in Texas.

What are abortion pills?

Medication abortion is a two-step regimen consisting of Mifepristone and Misoprostol. It was approved by the FDA in 2016 as a safe and effective method to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks along.

The FDA reports from 2000 to 2018, more than 3.7 million women have used abortion medication, specifically Mifepristone. Of those, the FDA reports less than 1% — 4,195 — experienced adverse reactions to the drug. The FDA reports 24 deaths associated with the drug since the product was approved in September 2000.

But the FDA warns not to buy the medication over the internet. The FDA issued warning letters in 2019 to some of these organizations, including AidAccess and RAblon, asking they stop providing and prescribing abortion medication to US citizens.

Weeks after SB 8 became law, the governor signed the second bill restricting abortion: Senate Bill 4. This bill took aim at online abortion medication providers, abortion telemedicine – and specifically an FDA decision changing how abortion medication could be dispensed during the pandemic.

KXAN's Kaitlyn Karmout is speaking to a University of Texas researcher who helped conduct the research and will update this article later.