New York City starts offering free abortion pills at sexual health clinics

New York City City on Wednesday started supplying complimentary abortion tablets at a city-run sexual health center in the Bronx.

The city currently uses medication abortions at its 11 public health centers, however the brand-new program will ultimately broaden access to 4 public health centers and offer an opportunity to the treatment at no charge to clients.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, revealed the program at a Municipal government press conference on Tuesday, in which he hailed an undertaking that “no other city in the country or on the planet” has actually carried out through its public health department supplying medication abortions.

” We are the very first,” Adams stated.

Centers in Queens, Harlem and Brooklyn will use the tablets by the end of the year, the city stated.

The tablets at the centers will be supplied to clients at no charge and are being moneyed as part of a $1.2 million bundle for sexual health services, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Ashwin Vasan, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Health commissioner, stated that when the 4 public health centers are up and running, they will have the ability to offer approximately 10,000 medication abortions each year in addition to the medication abortions its public health centers currently use.

Vasan likewise stated the medication abortions would be “open up to anybody” who requires them from in or out of New York City City. The city presently supplies abortion services to anybody despite migration status.

Considering That the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last summertime New york city City has actually introduced numerous programs in current months to assist females gain access to abortions.

In August, Adams signed a bundle of 6 costs from the City board referred to as the New York City Abortion Rights Act, which led the way to make medication abortions complimentary at Department of Health centers.

And in November, the city introduced the very first Abortion Gain access to Center in the nation that in complete confidence links females looking for abortions to abortion service providers throughout the city. The center is open to females from any state and likewise assists link them with financial backing services, transport and accommodations for the treatments, if required.

Previously this month, the United States Fda enabled accredited drug stores to give the abortion medication mifepristone to individuals who have a prescription.

Mifepristone can be utilized in addition to another medication, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. Formerly, these tablets might be bought, recommended and given just by a qualified health-care company. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA enabled the tablets to be sent out through the mail and stated it would no longer implement a guideline needing individuals to get the very first of the 2 drugs face to face at a center or healthcare facility.