Inside the covert abortion pill pipeline
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a post-Roe America, tens of thousands of people without access to legal abortions are turning to a new covert network to get abortion pills. Today on Post Reports, we trace the network’s surprising supply chain and look at the precarious position of those participating in it.
When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, abortion bans instantly took effect in large swaths of the United States, prompting people around the country to seek alternatives amid new legal and medical risks. Many are now turning to an emerging covert network of DIY distributors who are supplying free abortion pills from Mexico to people in the United States.
On today’s episode, national political reporter Caroline Kitchener introduces us to these distributors, their source, and what happens when one woman, desperate to terminate her pregnancy, takes this route.
Read more:
Caroline Kitchener reports on this expanding covert network providing pills for thousands of abortions in U.S.
See where abortion laws have changed in the U.S. and which states now ban the practice.
Abortion rights advocates scored major victories across the U.S. in midterm elections this month.
And subscribe to The Post’s new morning news podcast, “The 7,” on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before we get started with today's show, a quick warning. |
| 0:06.5 | Today's episode deals with abortion and includes content that could be disturbing for some listeners. |
| 0:12.6 | Please take care when and with whom you listen. |
| 0:15.6 | And thanks. |
| 0:18.3 | Roe v Wade was overturned on a Friday morning and immediately abortion was instantly illegal |
| 0:27.4 | in wide swaths of the United States across the South and the Midwest. |
| 0:33.2 | It was state after state after state that fell. |
| 0:37.3 | And I knew right away that I wanted to talk to the thousands of women who were searching |
| 0:44.1 | desperately for abortion care in the wake of that ruling. |
| 0:48.4 | And I wanted to know what are those people thinking right now, the people who need abortions |
| 0:55.6 | and now can't get them. |
| 0:56.8 | What are they thinking? |
| 0:57.8 | What are they doing? |
| 0:58.8 | What are they planning? |
| 0:59.8 | Caroline Kitchener is a national political reporter covering abortion for the post. |
| 1:04.6 | You know, I used to connect with patients at abortion clinics, but now the abortion clinics |
| 1:11.1 | are closed in the states where people are trying to get them. |
| 1:14.8 | So I went on Reddit and Monica's post really jumped out at me. |
| 1:25.5 | Monica is a woman in her mid-20s, living in a southern state where abortion is now illegal. |
| 1:32.8 | The title of her post was in all capital letters, please help with about 10 exclamation points, |
| 1:39.6 | 10 weeks pregnant and need advice. |
| 1:42.2 | And then she writes, I believe to be around 10 weeks pregnant. |
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