Arizona Clinic Comes Up With Abortion Pill Workaround

A Phoenix abortion clinic has come up with a way for patients who can end their pregnancy using a pill to get the medication quickly without running afoul of a resurrected Arizona law that bans most abortions. Under the arrangement that began Monday, patients will have an ultrasound in Arizona, get a prescription through a telehealth appointment with a California doctor, and then have it mailed to a post office in a California border town for pickup, all for free, the AP reports. While not as easy as before an Arizona judge ruled that a pre-statehood law criminalizing nearly all abortions could be enforced nearly two weeks ago, the process saves an overnight trip to a major California city with an abortion clinic.

And it is more accessible than the previous workaround used by Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix, which was to have a doctor in Sweden prescribe the pills and a pharmacy in India mail them to Arizona. That could take up to three weeks. Ashleigh Feiring, a nurse at the clinic, said the cost of the pills will be covered by the Abortion Fund of Arizona, which is helping women pay for out-of-state access to abortions. Women can use a pill for an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy. The Food and Drug Administration earlier this year permanently removed rules requiring in-person consultations with a provider before women can receive a medication abortion, allowing women to have a telehealth appointment and get the pills through the mail.

But Arizona has a law that bans mailing the pills, as well as the law that bans all abortions unless the life of the mother is in jeopardy. That has led clinics to make arrangements with clinics in New Mexico and California to treat patients who wanted to access the abortion pill as well as those more than 12 weeks along who need a surgical abortion. At Camelback Family Planning, Feiring said they are not worried about doing ultrasounds and post-abortion care for those who use the pill to have an abortion. “We’re not providing abortions," Feiring said. "We’re just giving people information.” (Elsewhere in the US, Planned Parenthood is planning a mobile abortion clinic that will visit cities near the borders of states that have abortion bans.)