Aid Access founder continues the legacy of helping abortion seekers

South Carolina also passes near-total ban on abortion, faces legal challenge

Aid Access is an international organization that mails abortion pills to women in states with restrictive abortion laws. It was an outgrowth of a larger organization called Women on Web, which did the same thing for other countries. The United States is one nation it sends them to. Rebecca Gomperts, the group's founder, spoke to Repro Rights Now, about their work. 

“Based on the research that we did with Women on Web, we saw that there were many more women from the US reaching out that they could not afford or otherwise access to abortion services,” Gompert said. 

She doesn’t currently feel any legal threat from operating in the United States. But she does worry about what a Republican presidency would mean for her operations. 

“The moment that there will be an American president, there will be a Republican FDA, which is not going to fight the restrictions that the anti-abortion organizations are trying to put in place,” Gomperts said. “And so that means that if there will be a Republican president, then the chance is very high that there won't be any local mifepristone anymore.” 

The FDA sent a cease and desist letter to Aid Access in 2019. That was under President Donald Trump. 

“ When there will be a Republican president, there will be a Republican head of the FDA, and they have a totally different agenda,” Gomperts said. So they might try to stop the provision of urgent medical care.” 

She worries about the states that have passed legal restrictions. 

“The legal system is very broken,” Gomperts said. “And many people have faced legal threats and prosecutions, even though they have not been breaking the law.” 

South Carolina passes six-week abortion ban

This past week, South Carolina passed a six-week abortion ban. Aside from Virginia, virtually all of the Southern United States now has some strict regulations affecting reproductive rights. 

This isn’t the first time that this issue has been brought up. The South Carolina State Supreme Court delivered a victory to abortion rights supporters in January when it struck down the six-week abortion ban passed two years earlier. 

Now the State Supreme Court makeup has changed and it remains to be seen if it will uphold or strike down the new six-week ban. Justice Kaye Hearn, who voted to strike down the ban, retired because of her age. She has been replaced by a man, which has caused some concern that the judicial body will uphold abortion bans and restrictions. In South Carolina, justices are picked by the State legislature after the nominees are recommended by a commission. 

I will report more on this as it develops.