The day after the 2024 election, Montana resident Alexandra Win and four of her friends got together and stocked up on morning-after pills, a type of emergency contraception.
They weren’t pregnant or even planning on taking the pills themselves. They were buying them just in case they’re pulled from the shelves under Donald Trump’s incoming presidency.
“The immediate feeling was just fear. What if a friend came to me in need?” said Win, an early career scientist who said she wants the freedom to have a family on her own time. “It’s really just about having control in my life over my body.”
Win and her friends aren’t alone. Immediately after the election, it was widely reported that sales of emergency contraception pills surged 1,000% for reproductive telehealth company Wisp. Winx Health, a sexual and vaginal health company, said sales of its morning-after pill Restart spiked 315% the day after the election compared to the day before the election.
The buying spree is representative of a deeper fear spreading across America. Women are purchasing these drugs in bulk, experts say, because of concern for increased restrictions to reproductive care. It’s unclear whether Trump will take major steps toward blocking access, but some anti-abortion activists who could have influence on the incoming president have turned their attention to contraception after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“I think the fears driving people to stockpile emergency contraception are very valid and far from speculative,” said Kavelle Christie, a program director at national health advocacy and policy organization Community Catalyst in Boston. “A conservative administration has several avenues to curtail access further.”
With Trump heading to the White House in a post-Roe America, many are worried about the possibility of a federal anti-abortion law. Even if that doesn’t happen, experts have identified other ways reproductive rights could be restricted.
One fear reproductive rights advocates have revolves around an anti-vice law dating back to 1873 that legal experts say hasn’t been enforced in decades. The Comstock Act prohibits the mailing of obscene materials, including articles used to induce abortion. If interpreted literally, this could apply to contraceptives, too.
Trump said in August he would not enforce the act, outraging some of his pro-life supporters.
Still, Christie believes the incoming administration could upend federal safeguards that would weaken the over-the-counter availability of emergency contraception, shifting decision-making back to states where restrictive policies have already gained momentum.
Beyond contraception, some are worried further restrictions on abortion would also impact fertility treatment in the U.S.
Despite Trump saying this October that he is the “father of IVF,” those working in the industry aren’t convinced. Janene Oleaga, a New York fertility attorney, is worried about politicians expanding laws like the fetal personhood clause in Alabama that gave frozen embryos the same rights as children.
“(Trump) is far from the father of IVF. But I’m not only concerned with federal legislation,” Oleaga said. “I’m fearful of what governors and politicians in red states will try to pass at the state level after being emboldened by Trump’s second presidency.”
Following the election, interest in contraception procedures skyrocketed, too. Sexual healthcare organization Planned Parenthood noticed a spike in website traffic and online appointment bookings immediately after the election.
On Nov. 6, the number of vasectomy appointments scheduled increased by 1,200%, IUD appointments jumped more than 760% and birth control implant appointments increased 350%, according to Danika Severino Wynn, vice president of care and access for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
“The trends we see make it clear that access to sexual and reproductive health care is top of mind for many – especially those who live in states where abortion care has already been banned or restricted,” Wynn said.
Calla Hales, executive director of A Preferred Women’s Health Center abortion clinics in the Southeast said her patients are worried about restrictions on drugs like mifepristone used to end early pregnancies and manage early miscarriages.
“We’ve gotten questions if we can mail pills out and can we send them home with people if they’re not pregnant,” said Hales, who said she legally and ethically has to remind patients that it’s not legal to do so in North Carolina, where she works.
Stockpiling pills can have a ripple effect, experts say, especially in underserved communities.
This is demonstrated by temporary stockouts of emergency contraception in conservative areas like the Mississippi Delta and West Texas, according to Christie.
When consumers panic buy, pharmacies in small towns take longer to restock than urban centers.
“The fact is, when supplies run low in urban hubs due to panic buying, rural and low-income communities – already underserved – bear the brunt of the scarcity,” Christie said. “This mirrors patterns seen in other critical shortages, such as the baby formula crisis, where smaller, less resourced communities were hit the hardest.”
Pharmacies near Hales’ North Carolina clinic are having trouble keeping up with demand for morning-after pills like Plan B, too, she said.
In Montana, where Win lives, voters approved a ballot measure acknowledging the constitutional right to abortion despite the majority of the state voting for Trump. But places with protected abortion access face the additional strain of out-of-state patients crossing state lines to receive care where it’s legal.
“In Montana, one of the only states in this vicinity that has had any access to abortion care,” Win said. “There are still only three clinics in the state that engage in abortion procedures and they’ve really had a lot of pressure placed on them because of the other states.”