In 1973, the United States Supreme Court made a decision that would forever change women’s reproductive rights: Roe V. Wade. Declaring that abortion is a constitutional right, Roe V. Wade gave women the right to choose what they wanted to do with their bodies, up until June of 2022.
A mere seven months before Roe’s 50th anniversary, the SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, making abortion up to the states. Almost immediately, bans were implemented in a plethora of states, causing panic among women nationwide. This has led to a mass amount of controversy, violence, and bans in a whopping 41 states so far, but most importantly, this has led to both maternal and infant deaths among those who weren’t able to access an abortion due to their state’s laws — with Black women being disproportionately impacted.
Although there are definitely solutions to seeking reproductive healthcare, they all come with risks. While some drive to different states to access abortion care, this wastes money, gas, and time that some women may not have. Some choose to illegally get abortions, putting their life in danger. Alyssa Wagner, board-certified women’s health practitioner and Medical Director at Hey Jane is aware of this and is committed to providing safer, more accessible options for those in need.
Hey Jane is a New York City-based healthcare company that provides abortion-related healthcare services, like the abortion pill, in the United States — particularly to women who were unable to conveniently visit abortion providers. “We started off [providing] medication abortion because we were able to provide this service via mail,” Wagner says. “For the longest time, you could only get mifepristone, the first part of a medication abortion, in-person handed to you by a provider. But then, the laws changed in a really great way where now you’re allowed to mail it — you can even get it from some retail pharmacies.”
Rather than going to a doctor’s office, patients can go onto the Hey Jane website (which is full of, as Wagner puts it “science-based patient-centered content”), fill out the health history form, get in touch with a provider, and before they know it, their treatment is potentially at their doorstep.
The great thing about Hey Jane is that it’s incredibly flexible, giving patients the option to speak with a medical provider via a virtual visit, or for busier patients, through just sending a quick message and simply “chatting” with their provider. “If [patients] want a video visit with us, they can have a video visit, but a [large portion of how] we communicate with our patients is texting and chat, and that’s huge for our patients who are students, who are parents, who are working,” Wagner explains. “It’s like your friend in your phone.”
Whether you’re nervous to ask questions and reach out for help, or have a busy schedule with no availability to chat on the phone, Hey Jane has it all figured out.
But a major issue for many folks who need access to reproductive healthcare is that they aren’t able to afford it — but Hey Jane has a solution. “We have a fee scale based on income for our patients,” Wagner explains. “We also work with a lot of abortion funds, which is a really great resource for patients who are having trouble paying for an abortion, or maybe they need to travel for an abortion.”
To further ease the financial burden, Hey Jane is “getting contracted with more and more insurance companies so that patients don’t have any out-of-pocket expense for their abortion,” Wagner shares. “We’re just continuing to serve our patients and always trying to create opportunities for other patients to see us.”
Patients also have the option to pay with cash — something that isn’t widely available for many folks seeking reproductive healthcare. “Maybe somebody doesn’t want this to show up on their insurance [or] maybe they have insurance that doesn’t cover abortion. There’s a ton of reasons why people don’t use insurance for abortions,” Wagner says. With these options in place, Hey Jane continues to expand access to reproductive healthcare and strives to reach as many patients as possible.
As Wagner explains, a major issue that Hey Jane has been facing post-election is being censored, with their content and information being shadowbanned from everyday consumers and patients. This has made it increasingly difficult for them to reach those in need, limiting access to crucial reproductive healthcare resources and support.
Information regarding reproductive healthcare being censored isn’t new; soon after Trump’s inauguration, people noticed reproductiverights.gov, a government website offering information about reproductive health, went offline and was unable to be accessed. As well as the phrase “vaginal health” being censored on TikTok, information regarding reproductive healthcare has become more and more limited post-election.
Despite these restrictions on information, Hey Jane continues to expand its reach, ensuring that patients can still access care regardless of censorship. “Currently available in 20 states, Hey Jane is frequently looking for new regions and researching where laws are changing in an attempt to help women who were affected by the abortion bans put into place after Roe v. Wade was overturned. “You don’t have to be a resident of the state that you’re in [to get access to reproductive care from Hey Jane]. You have to be physically in the state that you’re [receiving care] in.”
“We’re basically looking to expand access. And not just post-election, but forever — we’ll keep talking about abortion and normalizing abortion,” Wagner says.
Many college students want to help and advocate for reproductive change, but have no idea where to start — this is where Un-Whisper Network steps in. Powered by Hey Jane, The Un-Whisper Network is a virtual network “where people can get alerts for calls to action,” Wagner explains. The platform provides a space for activists to stay informed about critical reproductive rights and join efforts to create meaningful change.
Along with this, Wagner recommends “checking in with what local organizations are already” offered on campus. Whether it’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action, with chapters offered at a plethora of different schools, or local organizations outside of one’s campus, there are countless opportunities and abortion funds readily available and looking for support.
In the face of increasing restrictions and barriers to reproductive healthcare, organizations like Hey Jane are working tirelessly to ensure that everyone gets access to the care they need, regardless of their circumstances. With each passing day, the future of reproductive justice is only getting stronger, driven by those who refuse to stay silent and those who are dedicated to making change a reality.