Dr. Angel Foster

The first were the 350 or so patients that we had sent packages with mifepristone and mesoprostol to in the previous few days.

So on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before the decision was released.

And those patients hadn't received their packages yet.

And so we were inundated with questions about, you know,

Am I going to get my pills still?

Is the post office going to intercept my package?

Can I take the mifepristone once it arrives?

But the second group of patients, which is the group that we spent the most time with over that weekend, were those who had already been approved for our service, but who hadn't yet paid for the pills by the time the Fifth Circuit's decision was released.

And it's actually pretty common for our patients to request pills in the last week of the month, but then not pay for them until after the first because that's when people get paychecks.

And so over that weekend, we had about 200 people who were kind of in this limbo stage.

And so we were explaining what the options were for our patients that they could wait for a week and see what happens.

We could send them the mesoprostol-only regimen if that's what they wanted.

We could issue a refund.

And then we were also trying to explain to patients that even if we weren't able to send mifepristone through the mail, there would be other ways for them to get the mifepristone mesoprostol regimen.

And then the third group of patients were the new patients who were starting the process with our service.

And so we spent that weekend really building out all of our systems so that all of those patients would understand that we would send mifepristone and mesoprostol if we could, but if not, we would send just the mesoprostol and that they would get instructions and information about how to use it.

And when I think about what our patients have gone through over the last two weeks, you know, it makes me really sad.

Why?

Well, for them, I mean, I'm somebody who's in this space.

I often say I sort of live and breathe abortion.