Abortion Pill Prescriptions Just A Phone Call Away In NYC: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — Abortion pill prescriptions through New York City's public health system are now just a phone call away, said Mayor Eric Adams.

The city will offer telehealth abortion access through its public health system, Adams announced Monday.

The program — which starts this week — will connect New York City dwellers seeking abortion care with licensed health care professionals by video or phone from the "comfort of their home," he said.

"If you are clinically eligible, that provider would be able to prescribe abortion medication that would be delivered to your New York City address with in days," he said.

The abortion telehealth program will be the first offered by a public health system in the nation, officials said.

Adams and city health officials cast the program as a step to preserve access to a fundamental health care right — abortion — that has been threatened since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

New York elected officials have since taken steps to make the city and state a safe harbor for abortion, including by preserving access to medications that end pregnancies.

Only people calling from within New York City will be able to get abortion pill prescriptions through the new telehealth service, health officials said. But the service will connect people from outside the city to abortion care, they said.

The service will run the service seven days a week between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. City dwellers can access telehealth abortion care online or by calling 718-360-8981.