Why this matters in 2026
The post-Dobbs supply chain is fragile. Insurance is your own medicine cabinet.
FDA mifepristone is in court
Texas and Florida re-filed against the FDA's mifepristone approval in December 2025. Pam Bondi's DOJ has signaled non-enforcement of the Comstock Act for now, but that can change with one memo. If mifepristone is pulled from U.S. distribution, misoprostol-only at 800 mcg every 3 hours × 3 doses is still 84–96% effective — but you'd have to source pills.
Time is the limiting factor
Medication abortion works best in the first 10 weeks after your last menstrual period. From a missed period to 10 weeks is roughly 6 weeks. Telehealth shipping is 2–7 days; international fulfillment 7–21 days. Pills already in a drawer collapse those windows to zero.
The math
Shipping a person to a legal state for an in-clinic abortion costs $500–$2,300 (Brigid Alliance). Advance-provision pills cost $90–150. The clearest harm-reduction step is the cheapest one — and cycle apps + advance pills give you complete agency over your timeline.
Is advance provision legal?
Short answer: ordering and possessing the pills is legal in all 50 states. Using them is governed by your state's abortion law at the time you take them.
- Federal: Mifepristone has FDA approval for medication abortion through 70 days LMP. Misoprostol has FDA approval for ulcer prevention — using it for abortion is off-label, which is also legal.
- Receiving by mail: Federal Comstock Act (1873) technically prohibits mailing items "for producing abortion." DOJ under Biden in 2022 issued a memo declining to enforce against personal-use pills. Bondi's DOJ has not reversed that memo as of April 2026 — but it could.
- State law: Possessing the pills is not criminalized in any state. Self-managing an abortion is criminalized in only Nevada and South Carolina (under specific statutes, contested). Ten states have prosecuted self-managers under broader laws (homicide, child neglect, abuse-of-corpse) regardless of legality.
- The risk profile: The legal risk of ordering for advance provision is materially lower than the legal risk of ordering after you're pregnant in a ban state. Your search and shipping records create no link to a specific pregnancy.
Read our safe-browsing guide first. Use Tor for the order, ProtonMail for the consult, prepaid card or cash for payment, and a P.O. box or trusted address — not your name on a tracked package linked to your home.
Three places to order
All three ship to all 50 states for advance provision.
Aid Access
Founded by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts. Telehealth consultation with a European or U.S. shield-law clinician. ~$150 (sliding scale to $0). 2–4 days for U.S.-based shipping; 7–21 days for international fulfillment. The single most established route.
aidaccess.org/advance-provision →Plan C — In Advance
Plan C is an information clearinghouse, not a provider. Their "in advance" page lists every vetted source — telehealth services, online pharmacies (mostly misoprostol-only), and red flags. Updated frequently.
plancpills.org/in-advance →M+A Hotline
If you have specific clinical questions about timing, dosing, or how to use pills you already have — call 1-833-246-2632. Free. Confidential. Medical professionals only. They won't dispense pills, but they'll guide you on protocols.
mahotline.org · 1-833-246-2632 →How to store them
Both drugs are shelf-stable. Stored well, they last about two years.
Mifepristone (Mifeprex / Korlym)
Store: 20–25°C (68–77°F), tight container, dry. Avoid heat, humidity, direct sunlight. Don't refrigerate (condensation hurts it).
Shelf life: 24 months from manufacture if sealed. Check the printed expiry on the foil — most ship 18–22 months out. Discard 30 days after the printed date.
Misoprostol (Cytotec)
Store: Below 25°C (77°F), tightly sealed. Misoprostol is unstable in heat and humidity — keep it out of bathrooms and kitchens. Original blister packaging is ideal.
Shelf life: 24 months sealed; 6 months if removed from blister. Crumbly, discolored, or sticky tablets have lost potency. If misoprostol is the wrong color (should be white-to-off-white), discard.
A bedroom dresser drawer or sock drawer is ideal storage. Never the bathroom medicine cabinet — humidity ruins both drugs faster.
If a partner or family monitors you
Advance provision is also a way to keep the option without anyone knowing.
- Ship to a P.O. box, work address, or trusted friend's place — not your home if anyone there opens your mail.
- Repackage out of pharmacy labels the day they arrive. The original sticker labels with your name + address are a paper trail. Use a generic pill bottle or tin.
- Hide them in a benign-looking container in a drawer they don't open: a tampon box, a bag inside a bag, a tin inside a craft project.
- Memorize the dosing — don't keep the printed instructions next to the pills. Read our pill protocol from a library computer.
- If you live with someone who reads your search history, see our relationship-safety guide. Use a public library to do all the research and ordering.
When you actually need them
Step-by-step guidance you trust, not a Google search you regret.
If and when you decide to use the pills you've stored, follow the Her Choice pill protocol: 1 mifepristone tablet (200 mg) on day 1, then 4 misoprostol tablets (800 mcg total, sublingual or buccal) 24–48 hours later, with 800 mg ibuprofen 30 minutes before. Read it from a private device — Tor or a friend's phone.
Before you take anything, read our ectopic-emergency guide. Pills do not end an ectopic pregnancy. If you have any pelvic pain that's one-sided, sharp, or accompanied by shoulder pain, see a clinician for an ultrasound first.
The M+A Hotline at 1-833-246-2632 is the right call for any medical question during the process. The Repro Legal Helpline at 1-844-868-2812 is the right call for any legal question. Both are free, confidential, and available in all 50 states.
One last thing
Advance provision is not paranoia. It's the same logic as keeping Plan B in the medicine cabinet — except this works further into pregnancy and matters more in a country where the supply chain is being legally challenged every six months.
If you can afford it, ordering for yourself and sharing pills with a trusted friend who can't afford the consult is one of the most direct mutual-aid acts available right now. Pills are pills — they don't know who they're for.
If you can't afford the consult, abortion funds will pay. Apply to a fund through NNAF — they're set up exactly for this.
Sources
- Aid Access. Advance Provision. aidaccess.org/advance-provision
- Plan C. Pills In Advance. plancpills.org/in-advance
- Center for Reproductive Rights. Threats to Abortion Pill Access in the U.S. reproductiverights.org
- UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law & Policy. Mifepristone Litigation Tracker. law.ucla.edu
- WHO. Abortion care guideline. 2022. who.int
- If/When/How. Self-managed abortion legal landscape. reprolegalhelpline.org
Information, not legal or medical advice. Verify current legal status with the Repro Legal Helpline before relying on any specific step. Last reviewed 2026-04-25.