As a community-supported public awareness campaign, UnRestrict Minnesota is driven by the solidarity and leadership of its community partners. Together, these advocates, health care providers, lawyers, union members, artists, and concerned citizens are advancing every Minnesotan’s right to access abortion care in our state.
Just The Pill is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving abortion access in the face of increasing restrictions, particularly for those in underserved communities—addressing barriers like geographic distance and resulting travel and logistical issues, language and financial barriers, limited clinic options, state restrictions, and clinic policies not fully centered on patients and their well-being.
Q&A
Below, Dr. Julie Amaon, Medical Director at Just The Pill, shares more about the barriers facing patients across the United States, the obstacles inherent to certain models of abortion service delivery, and the needs that can be met by scalable, sustainable telemedicine and mobile care options.
Could you tell us a little bit about your work/organization?
Just The Pill is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving abortion access in the face of increasing restrictions, especially in underserved communities. Just The Pill and its program Abortion Delivered began providing telehealth consultations and medication abortion by mail in October 2020 and is currently seeing patients in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, and Wyoming. Since its founding, Just The Pill has provided care to more than 5,000 people, including patients who traveled for health care from Texas, Washington, Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Idaho, New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, and Iowa.
Why is this work important to take on in Minnesota?
In Minnesota, there is a big need for more facilities–hospitals, doctors offices, clinics–that can provide care, and there are many doctors who want to provide abortion care. Currently, we’re hearing about delays in Minnesota that result in clinics being 2-3 weeks out on providing care. Just The Pill is seeing patients just a few days out at this point.
Just The Pill drives mobile clinics along the borders of states with abortion bans, thus reducing travel burdens and making abortion more accessible. Our intention is to provide access to patients who are unable to access services in their state.
By operating on state borders, we reduce travel burdens for patients in states with bans or severe limits. By moving beyond a traditional brick-and-mortar clinic, our mobile clinics can nimbly adapt to the courts, state legislatures, and the markets, going wherever the need is greatest.
Why did you join the UnRestrict Minnesota coalition?
UnRestrict Minnesota is an amazing coalition that Just The Pill was excited to join from our inception. The depth of knowledge and support from the organization as well as coalition partners has been invaluable!
What is your vision for achieving full reproductive justice in Minnesota; or, what does achieving full reproductive justice in Minnesota mean to you?
Just The Pill is a mission-driven nonprofit organization created to reduce obstacles to abortion care. We focus on communities identified as healthcare deserts. We see telehealth medication abortion as one tool to reduce barriers to abortion access, but in itself, it is not enough. Later this summer we will operate the first mobile clinic for procedural abortion in the United States. We have identified obstacles inherent in the existing abortion service model: unaffordable patient fees, lack of language support, long-distance travel and other logistical demands, and hours of patient time spent in the clinic.
Our innovation is to combine advances in scalable telemedicine with (for the first time in US history) mobile procedural abortion so we can bring care to the people who most need it, especially low-income, BIPOC, and rural patients. This is a sustainable model that reduces barriers to care.
How can people get engaged with your work?
The ways someone can get involved are very dependent on where the supporter is located. For example, we use volunteer power for outreach, as well as patient and supply transportation, but only in a few places. Here are ways someone can get involved no matter where they are:
- Wishlist Buyout! Send all or some of the wish list items directly to our mobile clinic.
- Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter to stay informed about upcoming events and activities.
- Watch for our annual spring Fund-a-Thon! It’s so much fun and a great way to build community while supporting abortion access.