7 - Post-Roe America: Futures
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What is the overall purpose of the Post‑Roe America series and this final episode?
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Welcome to the Nocturnists, Postro America. I'm Allie Block. Over the course of this series, we've covered what's changed in the abortion landscape since the Dobbs decision. In some ways we've been looking backwards, taking stock. But for this last episode, we want to look at what's happening right now. And as we said at the beginning of the series, there isn't one single unified voice when it comes to abortion advocacy. It's a tapestry of different ideas, hard work, and pie-in-the-sky gambits. So today we're bringing you three stories of people in the world of abortion access that are taking different approaches to the care they offer. In the first, we meet those behind what's probably the largest shift in reproductive care since Dobbs, and what might constitute the foreseeable future of abortion access in red states, medication abortion via telehealth.
Or accept press one to send the voicemail. Hi, this is the hotline doctor. Can I help you?
Hi, yeah, I was
hoping
This is Linda Prine, one of the volunteers at the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline. She was also one of the founders of the Hotline back in 2019.
You're fine, you're really fine. I'm not pregnant anymore. You don't need an ultrasound. You're gonna have a period that'll be a little extra heavy. This is definitely not dangerous in any way and it's definitely not a continuing pregnancy because
Linda's one of sixty volunteers that take shifts answering phones, text messages, and emails from people who are primarily in the process of self-managing their medication abortions.
Hey. Okay, okay, okay. Thank you so much. Okay, you hang in there, take care and call us back if you have any questions as you're going through the process.
So the hotline was started because uh abortion access has you know historically been horrible.
This is April Lockley, medical director of the hotline, which became a crucial resource during the pandemic when more people were managing their abortions at home. But demand for medication abortions unsurprisingly shot way up after Dobbs, especially in states where access has become restricted. I would say huh.
On an average day, we talk to anywhere from 50 to 70 people, and that's either text messaging or phone calls. Sometimes the questions are very brief and can be answered in 20 seconds, or a one-line text response, and other times the calls are 20-30 minutes, or we're texting with people for days or weeks while they're going through the abortion process. Yeah. Еспешно аф десишн, пипли. are just really confused about if they can have an abortion, where they can access an abortion. how they can get medication abortion pills. So we reassure people about that and about the safety of the medications. So it's a lot of managing that anxiety after people have had an abortion um has been a big theme that we're seeing, especially after the Dobbs decision and people are just very understandably nervous about being pregnant when they don't want to be pregnant.
If there was a silver lining to be found from the pandemic, it was that it normalized telemedicine for abortion care. When abortion clinics were deemed non-essential care, the FDA allowed for abortion medication to be prescribed remotely and for the pills to either be picked up at the clinic without a visit or mailed. We learned that all the stuff we were making patients do beforehand, clinic visits, blood tests, ultrasounds, wasn't actually necessary, and that remote medication abortions are totally safe. Now, telehealth medical abortions are fast becoming the norm in the post-RO landscape. Um, we went from being physicians to being shipping clerks.
First I had to learn how to use the shipping equipment, like label makers and buying the right envelopes. And you know, I used to show up at the post office with these gigantic bags like I was Santa Claus.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What is the overall purpose of the Post‑Roe America series and this final episode?
0:00–6:07
2
How does the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline provide medication‑abortion support after Dobbs?
6:07–10:14
3
What role did tele‑medicine play in reshaping abortion care in red‑state communities?
10:14–32:16