Abortion Roe-bots dispensed abortion pills in front of the Supreme Court.

On March 26 th, 2024, Abortion Roe-bots operated remotely by shield-law providers from Aid Access, a telemedical abortion service providing abortion pills in all 50 states, dispensed abortion pills outside the Supreme Court in Washington. The action was in collaboration with Women on Waves and Abortion Access Front.

The abortion robots were operated remotely from within shield law states, where legal protection safeguards abortion providers against punitive measures. ^[1]^[2]

The Supreme Court convened at 9:00 AM EST to deliberate the registration status of mifepristone, a critical component of medication-induced abortions.

Mifepristone is used in combination with misoprostol to end a pregnancy. The World Health Organisation endorses telemedical abortion services and home use of the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol without direct supervision of a health-care provider, up to 13 weeks pregnancy. Scientific research in the past decades has shown that telemedical abortions by mail are very safe and similar to clinic abortions.^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

An Amicus Brief, representing women who used the Aid Access's telemedical abortion service, highlights the indispensable role of such services.

Several studies demonstrate that the most common reasons for requesting for telemedical abortion services were the inability to afford in-clinic care (73.5%), privacy (49.3%), and clinic distance (40.4%).^[7] ^[8] ^[9]^[10] A large group of those who received telemedical abortion services, live below the federal poverty level and in a social vulnerable environment. ^[11] ^[12]

Telemedical abortion services are well-established in several countries including the UK, France, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and, since December 2022, the USA.

Aid Access is committed to continue provide abortion pills by mail or Roe-bots across all 50 states, independently of the upcoming Supreme Court ruling in this case.

The action was covered by the following media:

About Women on Waves: Women on Waves is a Dutch non-profit organisation founded in 1999. We trust that women can do a medical abortion themselves and develop innovative strategies to ensure that all people have access to medical abortion and information. Our better known campaigns involve sea voyages, drones or robots to countries where abortions are illegal, but we also conduct research, develop art projects, engage in legal actions, give sexual education and medical knowledge workshops and help women throughout the course of their abortions via the internet.

About Aid Access: Dr. Rebecca Gomperts established Aid Access in 2018 with the mission of offering telemedicine-based abortion services to individuals in need throughout the USA, regardless of legal restrictions or financial barriers. Since June 2023 Aid Access works with US providers licensed in the shield law states who mail abortion pills to all 50 states.

About Abortion Access Front:
Founded in 2015 by comedian and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, Abortion Access Front (Abortion AF) is a nonprofit organization made up of activists, comedians, writers, and producers. They use humor to destigmatize abortion and expose the extremist forces working to destroy access to reproductive rights and abortion in all 50 states. Abortion AF’s provocative and hilarious multimedia content educates people about the pervasive and discriminatory abortion laws that disproportionately impact people in BIPOC communities, while also working on the ground, growing support, and raising awareness for independent abortion providers– the community clinics who bear the brunt of anti-abortion legislation and harassment, and provide the majority of abortion care in the country.

References

[1] https://evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/EVIDra2200280

[2] https://www.theactgroup.org/what-we-do

[3] Daniel Grossman and Kate Grindlay, Safety of Medical Abortion Provided Through Telemedicine Compared With In Person, 130 Obstetrics & Gynecology 778 (2017), doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000002212.

[4] Ara Aiken etal, Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of no-test medical abortion (termination of pregnancy) provided via telemedicine: a national cohort study, BJOG 2021 Aug;128(9):1464-1474. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16668. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

[5] Abigail R.A. Aiken et al., Safety and effectiveness of self-managed medication abortion provided using online telemedicine in the United States: A population based study, The Lancet Reg’l HealthAmericas (2022) doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2022.100200.

[6] https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-235/299303/20240130173443972_23-235%2023-236tsacWomenWhoHaveObtainedMedicationAbortionViaTelemedicine.pdf

[7] Abigail R A Aiken , Jennifer E Starling , James G Scott, Rebecca Gomperts, Requests for Self-managed Medication Abortion Provided Using Online Telemedicine in 30 US States Before and After the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization Decision, JAMA 2022 Nov 1;328(17):1768-1770. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.18865.

[8] Johnson DM, Madera M, Gomperts R, Aiken ARA., The economic context of pursuing online medication abortion in the United States, SSM Qual Res Health. 2021 Dec;1:100003. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100003.

[9] Sajal Sanan, E. Godfrey, R. Gomperts, Nikeeta Shah, A. Fiastro, Affording telemedicine medication abortion: Examining a sliding-scale payment option and patient’s ability to pay, Published in Women's Health 1 March 2022, DOI:10.1370/afm.20.s1.3208

[10] Abigail R. A. Aiken, MD, PhD; Jennifer E. Starling, PhD; Rebecca Gomperts, MD, PhD Factors Associated With Use of an Online Telemedicine Service to Access Self-managed Medical Abortion in the US , JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(5):e2111852. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.11852

[11] Abigail R. A. Aiken, MD, PhD; Jennifer E. Starling, PhD; Rebecca Gomperts, MD, PhD Factors Associated With Use of an Online Telemedicine Service to Access Self-managed Medical Abortion in the US , JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(5):e2111852. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.11852

[12] Emily M. Godfreya , Erin K. Thayer , Anna E. Fiastroa , Abigail R.A. Aiken , Rebecca Gomperts, Family medicine provision of online medication abortion in three US states during COVID-19, Contraception 2021 Apr 30;S0010-7824(21)00142-6. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2021.04.026.

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