NYC Health + Hospitals has facilitated more than 230 abortions by mail

New York City has mailed more than 230 abortion kits since it began offering the medical procedure via telehealth last October, public health officials announced February 2.

The kits, which include mifepristone, the drug commonly used for medication abortion, are available to patients who are up to 10 weeks pregnant. The patients must “attest to being in New York City” both during the virtual visit and when taking the medication, according to the announcement from New York City Health and Hospitals (H+H), the city’s public health system.

“We’re here for New Yorkers as they need us. And we’ll scale to however big this gets,” Erfan Karim, executive director of H+H Virtual ExpressCare, said at a media roundtable.

Virtual ExpressCare, H+H’s telehealth platform, allows people seeking an abortion to consult with a medical professional, who may prescribe mifepristone by mail. H+H can only send the kits to New York City addresses, according to the announcement.

The effort has led to 870 patients—more than 73% of whom identify as people of color—receiving reproductive care, according to the H+H announcement. The visits led to 360 referrals for in-person care as well. Patients have access to reproductive care through the service every day of the week from 9am to 9pm, the announcement stated.

H+H’s telehealth abortion services come after the Adams administration expanded abortion care to residents through its city-run clinics following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which gave states the power to decide on abortion access. The court will hear oral arguments March 26 regarding access to mifepristone.

Marisa Nadas, reproductive health clinical lead and Virtual ExpressCare associate medical director at H+H, said that the health system would abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, but stressed the importance of abortion access.

“We have an obligation to provide telehealth medication abortion services,” she said.