Plan C is a public health creative campaign, started in 2015 by a small team of veteran public health advocates, researchers, social justice activists and digital strategists.
Plan C transforms access to abortion in the US by normalizing the self-directed option of abortion pills by mail.
Our Vision: A near future in which the ability to end an early pregnancy is directly in the hands of anyone who seeks it.
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Co-director and Co-founder
Co-founder and Strategic Advisor
Digital Director and Co-founder
Research Coordinator with University of Washington
Partnerships and Engagement Manager
Clinician Advisor
Special Projects Consultant
Program Associate
Community Engagement Lead
Community Engagement Lead
Self-Determination
We believe that every person has the non-negotiable human right and ability to make their own choices and decisions regarding whether, when, and how to create or grow a family, and that everyone deserves unrestricted access to the rights, information, resources and support needed to care for themselves and for their families.
Furthermore, we believe everyone deserves unrestricted access to the rights, information, resources and support needed to care for themselves and for their families. We center the value of self-determination in both our organization's work as well as the ways in which we partner with our allies.
Equity
We envision and encourage a reality where abortion is not in isolation but is community care, and is accessible in ways that are safe, peaceful, timely and affordable for every person.
Justice
Through our work we strive to address the historical and ongoing oppression of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, income, age, geography and other marginalized and intersectional identities. We do this by centering these communities in our work increasing access to abortion pills, while also considering the circumstances the higher risk of criminalization and lack of general support for these communities. Further, we push back on unjust laws and criminalization of pregnant people.
Operational Values
We center the end user.
Our mission all the way down to specific resources and Guide materials are designed with the end user in mind, or person with capacity for pregnancy and/or seeking pills, first and foremost. This person comes before our awareness efforts, donor relations or any other relationship we cultivate.
We are evidence-based.
We rely on research, data, and evidence. We share resources and information based on this data, we operate with integrity and care in our priorities and our communications practices.
We partner and act as a catalyst.
We work interdependently and encourage progress by investing in our partners and allies to operate in their “zones of genius.” We encourage momentum within and across movements by sharing resources and expertise and encouraging intros and alliances between national, state and local partners. We continue to ground partnerships in respect, accountability, transparency and equitable sharing of power, and leverage these partnerships to positively impact communities and individual lives.
We are a member of:
Click the link above to check if our small but mighty team has any current openings (all contract, remote, part-time positions).
Founded in 2015 and led by Francine Coeytaux, MPH, Elisa Wells, MPH, and Amy Merrill, MA, Plan C is under the fiscal sponsorship of the National Women’s Health Network, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Watch our animated history of the abortion pill.
In the mid 1990s, Elisa Wells and Francine Coeytaux were on the team to bring Plan B, the “morning after pill,” over the counter – a long but successful journey catalyzing business, FDA and public goals. (Read From Secret to Shelf, 1999)
In the fall of 2016, right as the administration turned over, we launched a website to share information about online abortion pills and self-managed abortion.
Soon after, we noticed online pharmacies selling “abortion kits.” We researched and tested these pharmacies and published this research as the Plan C Report Card, documenting the sources from which people were clearly finding pills online.
In the next three years, our website grew and the Plan C data and team were featured in major publications worldwide.
In 2018 we laid the groundwork for a study with UCSF to demonstrate online access to abortion pills throughout California. But the FDA refused to approve the study, for the same reason the restrictions remain in place— politics. Instead, we took our idea to the state of Washington, where a respected clinic ran with it instead.
By now, dozens of websites were selling abortion pills, most from within the United States. This was unprecedented. But still there were so many people reaching out to reproductive health organizations, asking for help in self-managing their abortion--and no US organization was able to step up. So AidAccess.org came online to serve the US from the Netherlands, helping around 1,000 people/month with medically-supported at-home abortion care. By operating from outside the US, they were able to sidestep the politics of abortion for the time being.
By 2019 the Plan C website was receiving upwards of 50,000 hits/month, from all over the US, with over half of those visitors seeking out the Report Card. The work of the Plan C team was featured in major press and led to speaking engagements at events like Essence Festival and the Cycles+Sex Conference (now allbodies.com).
In April 2020, as the global pandemic hit, Plan C sent a call-out to medical providers across the nation, asking them to step up and consider providing telemedicine and pills shipped directly to patients during the pandemic. Hundreds responded to the call. In collaboration with University of Washington, Plan C developed a Toolkit to assist them as they begin to revolutionize access to early abortion across the U.S.
Alongside clinics and startups beginning to serve patients with telemedicine and mailed pills, the medical community fast-tracked the adoption of new protocols getting rid of the need for blood tests or exams, which opened the door further to online abortion care.
With the Dobbs decision in 2022 and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Plan C responded with information on alternate routes of access and resources for self-managed abortion, a human rights and harm reduction response to an unprecedented rollback of human rights in the US.
Developments like "Advance Provision" (or pills in advance) and mail forwarding have also become creative alternate methods for people to access pills in restricted states, and a groundswell of support has led to amplification of self-managed information far and wide.
Plan C was also been recognized in MIT's 2022 Technology Review and by the Anthem/Webby awards (Gold Award for non-profit websites 2022). In 2023 the Plan C co-founders were named as part of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business.
In just seven years, Plan C has helped to accelerate the demedicalization of medication abortion, changing the narrative and normalizing the method as well as working with partners to catalyze a new era of access and self-care.
"I've used Plan C and it saved my life. Now I go around teaching about safe sex to high schoolers in the summer."
"I'm a dude but I stand with y'all. I have 3 sisters and an amazing wife and I learned so much from them...my way of helping y'all is putting these [stickers] everywhere ❤."
