The pandemic sparked the rise of tele-abortion. Is it here to stay?

In April of this year, when some of Minnesota’s already few abortion clinics started to close because of the pandemic, a new organization popped up with a novel idea: It would bring abortion services to Minnesotans using a mobile clinic. Called Just The Pill, its goal was to connect the state’s most rural corners with medication abortion care, a two-pill regimen that can end a pregnancy.

“Despite the fact that it has this long track record of effectiveness, of safety, it’s still for better or worse not as familiar to folks who would be eligible to use it,” says Destiny Lopez, codirector of All Above All, a nonprofit organization fighting various bans and restrictions on abortion across the country.