Health

Bay Area Startup Choix To Sell Abortion Pills For Stockpile — Just Fill Out A Quick Questionnaire

(Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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A Bay Area startup will begin offering abortion pills to women who aren’t yet pregnant so they can be stockpiled, the company announced Wednesday.

Choix, a new pro-abortion startup pronounced “choice,” will sell the abortion pills in states where “advanced provision” is currently legal, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine and New Mexico, according to Bloomberg. The two pill abortion cocktail will cost women between $175 and $289, and only requires that they fill out a questionnaire and sign some consent forms.

“Abortion is so highly stigmatized and politicized that people accessing abortion care, even in states where it is legal, come to us with this additional feeling of anxiety about whether they will be allowed to get an abortion,” Choix CEO Cindy Adam told Bloomberg. “Advanced provision really helps alleviate that stress and puts power back in the hands of the person seeking care.”

The questionnaire women must fill out simply asks about medical history and potential complications that would occur when taking the abortion pills, according to the outlet. After signing the consent forms, the pills are shipped to patients along with instructional information within days. Women can get a telehealth consultation with a Choix provider when they choose to use the pills, up to 11 weeks into a pregnancy.

The shelf life for the two pills taken to induce the abortion are five years and two years. Choix says women can only be provided with one dose at a time. (RELATED: NYT Promotes Foreign Online Pharmacy Peddling ‘Extralegal’ Abortion Pills)

During the pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a rule that allowed one of the two abortion pills, mifepristone, to be sent to women by mail. The agency then made that rule permanent.

Adam said Choix has facilitated abortions for roughly 5,000 women so far and raised $1 million in capital this year, according to Bloomberg.