NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Celebrates TelAbortion Expansion into Massachusetts
BOSTON–NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the Commonwealth’s leading grassroots, pro-choice advocacy organization, shared its excitement over the expansion of the TelAbortion research study into Massachusetts. The study will improve Bay Stater’s access to medication abortion care and limit their exposure to COVID-19. The TelAbortion study is run by Gynuity Health Projects and is currently operating in 17 states and Washington DC. More than 1,500 patients have been able to safely end a pregnancy through the TelAbortion research study.
The study aims to evaluate the use of telemedicine and mail for providing medication abortion care. In early January, the Supreme Court’s anti-choice bloc upheld FDA-restrictions that mandate medication abortion care be dispensed in person, striking down a legal challenge by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The Court’s decision is a direct attack on abortion access. Not even highly addictive opioids are subject to the same in-person requirement. Participants in the TelAbortion study, however, can get medication abortion care mailed discreetly and directly to them.
“TelAbortion’s expansion into Massachusetts will improve access to abortion care at a time when we need it most. Barriers to abortion care have been exacerbated by the pandemic, but this study is poised to help countless Bay Staters remain in control of their bodies and reproductive lives,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. “The fact that the FDA forces patients and providers to jump through the same hoops as when medication abortion care was first approved 20-years ago is shameful. This unnecessary barrier is further proof of how the political process has been used to push abortion care out of reach to women and pregnant people.”
“We are very excited to be offering TelAbortion services in Massachusetts. TelAbortion can increase access to abortion care, and can reduce COVID-related risks by minimizing in-person contact,” said Dr. Tara Shochet, Senior Program Director at Gynuity Health Projects. “We’re working to create a world where everyone has access to reproductive health care when and where they need it, and this research project is critical to achieving our goal in the United States.”
The telemedicine services will be provided by Maine Family Planning, which employs providers who are licensed to practice in Massachusetts. Patients who are interested in participating in this study should contact Maine Family Planning directly and ask for the TelAbortion coordinator. For more information about the TelAbortion study, visit: https://telabortion.org/states/massachusetts
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Contact:
Jon Latino
978-870-9388