Imagine for just a second that you are trying
to find critical, highly time sensitive medical
information. But instead of, you know, walking
into a doctor's office or a clearly marked pharmacy,
you're trying to navigate the absolute wild west
of the Internet. Oh, yeah. That is a nightmare
scenario. It really is. You're sifting through
search results trying to figure out what is real,
what's safe, and what might actually be, well,
an elaborate scam. It's incredibly stressful
to even picture, right? Definitely. Well, welcome
to today's Deep Dive. We are so glad you are
joining us. Today, our mission is to explore
a Wikipedia article detesting a very specific
nonprofit organization and public health campaign.
It's known as Plan C. Plan C, yeah. We're going
to look at this organization's history, examine
the highly detailed directory they created to
help people access medication, and trace how
some of the most major global and political events
of the last decade completely shaped their trajectory.
And before we dive into the timeline, we need
to add a really quick caveat here. Yes, very
important. Because this topic covers abortion,
which is highly politically charged, we want
to be crystal clear with you that we aren't taking
any sides today. Not left wing, not right wing.
Exactly. We are not endorsing any viewpoints,
actions, or medical procedures described here.
We're simply acting as your guides to the facts
in the history, exactly as they are laid out
in the Wikipedia source material, just mapping
it out impartially. That is the perfect way to
frame it. We're just here to unpack the information
on the page. So with that established, let's
look at the core identity of Plan C. This nonprofit
was founded back in 2015 by three women, Francine
Coetoe, Elisa Wells, and Amy Merrill. Right.
And their focus right from the start was on education
abortion. Right. Their fundamental goal was essentially
to transform how people in the United States
access this specific type of care. By normalizing
it, right? Exactly. And doing that while working
to take the secrecy and shame out of the process.
Right. Moving it from something whispered about
to. just a standard accessible option okay let's
unpack this because having a lofty goal is one
thing but how they actually went about doing
it is where we get into the core of their operations
the primary tool they built to achieve this goal
is something called the plan c guide the guide
yes This is crucial. When you read through the
breakdown of this guide in the article, it's
not just a simple list of hyperlinks. It is a
highly structured state -specific directory that
categorizes several distinct avenues for access.
And that state -specific structure is vital because
medical regulations in the U .S. vary so wildly
depending on where you live. Oh, totally. A patchwork.
Exactly. So the guide breaks things down into
very specific buckets to navigate that reality.
First, you have U .S.-based telehealth clinics.
Right. domestic operations providing pills through
virtual appointments and mail services. Then,
the directory lists trusted international online
clinics that ship directly to the U .S. It even
includes a category for websites that just sell
pills outright without any medical consultation.
Yeah, which is a big distinction. It is. These
sites essentially operate as online pharmacies,
and Plan C actually lists out their pricing and
shipping details right there in the guide so
users can compare them side by side. They are
completely mapping out the landscape of what
is available without a traditional prescription.
But the directory extends beyond just clinical
or commercial providers. It gets into the community
aspect, right? Yes. It points individuals toward
community support, highlighting peer -to -peer
community networks. These are grassroots groups
that assist with obtaining and mailing pills
locally. And of course, they also provide directories
for traditional in -person clinics for those
who prefer or need face -to -face care. It's
just a massive amount of logistical information.
It really is. But there is a whole other layer
to this guide that focuses heavily on the user's
environment and safety. What's fascinating here
is the inclusion of dedicated legal and safety
guidance. Yeah, they don't just leave you hanging.
Right. The guide doesn't just hand you a website
and say, good luck. It provides general information
on the potential legal risks and the digital
privacy considerations that come with ordering
and using these medications online. Because operating
in this space carries certain legal risks for
the user depending on their jurisdiction. Exactly.
And the organization attempts to provide a framework
for navigating that digital footprint. And they
pair that legal and safety information with actual
human support. The guide lists live phone and
tech support hotlines, specifically calling out
resources like the M plus A hotline and IACONTIGO,
which offer confidential assistance. Which is
so important. I mean, think about how overwhelming
medical research can be for you on a normal Tuesday.
Imagine trying to figure all of this out in a
high stress, highly time sensitive situation.
It would be paralyzing. Totally. By regularly
updating this guide, Plan C is essentially creating
a tool designed to cut through a massive wall
of information overload. They are trying to give
individuals a sense of agency and clarity in
an incredibly complex health care system. And
that concept of agency ties directly into the
organization's overarching philosophy. They identified
four main pillars for their campaign. What were
those again? researching how people are actually
accessing these pills in the real world connecting
individuals to telehealth options advocating
for over -the -counter access to take the stigma
away and disrupting what they view as unjust
barriers to care. Right. And to really understand
how they developed the confidence to build this
directory in the first place, it helps to look
at the history of the founders themselves. Yeah,
their backgrounds are key here. Let's do a little
time travel. We are heading back to the 1990s.
Okay, the 90s. Long before Plan C existed, two
of the founders, Elisa Wells and Francine Coetho,
were already highly active in the reproductive
health space. Right, they had a track record.
A huge one. They actually worked on the campaign
to get Plan B, the morning -after pill approved
by the FDA for over -the -counter sale. Which
is a massive detail. That historical context
is crucial. Getting a restricted reproductive
medication moved from behind the pharmacist's
counter out into the public aisle is a massive...
regulatory and cultural paradigm shift. It's
not something that just happens overnight. No,
not at all. It requires a deep understanding
of FDA protocols, public health campaigns and
consumer behavior. The founders took that exact
playbook. and applied it to a new objective when
the Plan C website officially launched in 2016.
And that 2016 launch brings us to one of the
most wild details we found in the source stack.
Oh, this part is incredible. When they started
looking at the landscape of online abortion pills,
they didn't just aggregate links they found on
Google. To figure out what was actually being
sold online, they took a really unorthodox approach.
They basically became mystery shoppers for abortion
pills. It's so crazy to think about. They went
to these websites. sites claiming to be pharmacies,
ordered the pills, paid for them and waited to
see what would arrive in the mail. And they didn't
stop there? No. Once the packages arrived, they
actually tested the medication in the lab to
verify the active pharmaceutical ingredients
and the dosages. Wait, so they just went online,
bought restricted medications from random websites
themselves, and ran lab tests to see who was
real and who was sending fake pills? That's exactly
what they did. They acted as an independent quality
control board for the Internet. Wow. They evaluated
the shipping times, the packaging, whether there
were hidden fees, and most importantly, whether
the pills contained the... actual medication
they claimed to. And then they published it.
Yes. Once they had those scientific results,
they published their findings publicly as the
Plan C report card. It is an incredible way to
approach the unknown. I mean, they knew people
were already searching for these solutions online,
often out of total desperation. Right. So they
took on the risk of testing the gray market supply
chain themselves to give people reliable data.
And that commitment to research evolved significantly.
By 2018, they took a major step into formal academic
research. Yes. They became involved in the 2018
SHAT study. Which stands for California Home
Abortion by Telehealth, right? Exactly. This
is a collaboration with researchers at the University
of California, San Francisco. The study was designed
to deeply understand the experiences of patients
across the U .S. who are utilizing virtual clinics.
And UCSF is a massive, highly respected medical
research institution. So they were taking this
grassroots mystery shopper concept and elevating
it to peer reviewed science. Because medical
consensus doesn't just change. because an organization
says a process is safe. Right. You need the hard
data. You need rigorous institutional data measuring
patient outcomes, safety, and efficacy. By partnering
with UCSF, they were working to validate telehealth
as a viable, evidence -based option within the
broader medical community. Building a rock -solid
foundation of data. Precisely. To prove that
patients could safely manage this care at home.
And clearly there was a massive public demand
for that data and that directory. Because by
2019, the Plan C website was drawing over 50
,000 visitors every single month. That's a huge
number for a relatively new nonprofit. People
were searching for this information from all
50 states. They were building this steady grassroots
momentum. Everything changed. The entire global
context changed overnight, fundamentally altering
the health care landscape they were operating
in. Here's where it gets really interesting.
April 2020. The onset of the COVID -19 pandemic.
Everything locks down. If we connect this to
the bigger picture. The pandemic acted as a massive
catalyst for telehealth across the entire medical
spectrum. Yeah, suddenly you couldn't just walk
into a doctor's office for a routine consultation.
For Plan C, the impact was profound. The medical
community had to immediately expedite the adoption
of no -test protocols. Because of the safer -at
-home orders. Right. Patients couldn't easily
go into clinics for routine ultrasounds or blood
work. And at the exact same time, the FDA temporarily
lifted its restrictions on shipping Mifepristone,
which is one of the two primary medications used
in this process, through the mail. It was basically
a perfect storm of regulatory changes and sudden
logistical necessity. It really was. And during
this exact window, Plan C issued a call to providers.
They essentially broadcast a message to the medical
and startup community saying, look. The need
is skyrocketing. People are stuck at home. The
regulations have temporarily eased and there
is a huge opportunity to serve patients through
telehealth right now. And the startup community
responded rapidly. They really did. This period,
driven by the pandemic and Plan C's call to action,
directly spurred the launch of several new telehealth
abortion startups. Companies like Abortion on
Demand, CHOI, and Haygene. Exactly. They emerged
during this massive acceleration of virtual care,
building their business models around the exact
telehealth framework Plan C had been researching
and advocating for. The pandemic essentially
forced the system that Plan C had been envisioning
since 2015 to become a mainstream reality almost
overnight. A total paradigm shift. But as we
keep moving through the timeline, the regulatory
pendulum swings violently in the other direction.
We get to 2022 and the Supreme Court's Dobbs
v. Jackson decision. And then the complete overturning
of Roe v. Wade in 2023. This represents a monumental
pivot point. The Dobbs decision returned the
power to regulate or ban abortion entirely to
individual states. Creating an incredibly fractured
map. Exactly. A medical procedure that was perfectly
legal in one state became a criminal offense
just across the border. Federal protections vanished.
So how did Plan C react to that? In response,
they significantly increased the information
they made available regarding alternate ways
to access pills. They heavily focused on resources
to help people safely self -manage abortions
at home when local clinics were forced to close.
And one of the most striking adaptations they
made during that chaotic period in 2022 was heavily
promoting a concept called advanced provision.
Advanced provision is a critical concept here.
Let's explain that because it's fascinating.
It is the option to order these medications in
advance while you are not pregnant so that they
will be available in your medicine cabinet if
they're ever needed at some point in the future.
It shifts the entire model from reactive health
care to completely proactive medical preparedness.
It is exactly like keeping an EpiPen. or an emergency
inhaler in your house just in case, but applied
to reproductive health. And Plan C expanded their
directory to specifically include organizations
offering this advanced provision service. Right.
Naming groups like Aid Access, Carafum, Women
on Web, and the Massachusetts Medication Abortion
Access Project, or the MAP. By pushing advanced
provision, they were helping users build a physical
buffer against suddenly changing state laws or
disruptions in the medical system. Because if
the legal status of the medication in your state
might change tomorrow... Advanced provision ensures
you already have the medication in your physical
possession today. It completely bypasses the
urgency of trying to navigate shipping times
during a crisis. It is a fascinating strategic
shift. Now, as we bring the timeline right up
to 2024, the source material reveals a detail
about the market economics of all this that is
truly staggering. Oh, the cost aspect. Yes. We
have talked about the medical shifts and the
legal battles, but we really need to talk about
the cost. The economics of this space are incredibly
revealing. when it comes to the power of centralized
information. Because of the directory. Right.
Because the Plan C guide became so prominent
and so heavily trafficked, it created an intensely
competitive environment for the providers listed
within it. Everyone wanted to be in the first
few results of that directory. And basic market
economics took over. Exactly. That increased
visibility and direct competition drove the prices
down significantly. I mean, think about how American
health care usually works for you. You almost
never know the price of a service until you get
the bill in the mail weeks later. It relies entirely
on information. asymmetry. But Plan C put all
the prices right next to each other on one page.
Let's look at the numbers. By 2024, the cost
for these pills by mail without a clinician consultation
dropped to between $25 and $28. And that is contrasted
with the cost of services that include a full
telehealth consultation with a U .S.-based clinician,
which traditionally averaged around $150. Which
is already a drop, but it goes further. It does.
The directory created such fierce competition
that the lowest cost telehealth provider began
offering their service across all 50 states for
a minimum payment of just $5. $5. $5. You can
barely buy a fancy iced coffee for $5, let alone
a medical consultation and the delivery of prescription
medication across all 50 states. It's an unbelievable
drop in cost. And it is directly attributed to
the transparent, competitive marketplace created
by the directory. It demonstrates how a nonprofit
organization utilized hard market forces to further
their primary goal of eliminating barriers to
access. By forcing providers into a price war
for top billing on their site, they made the
care fundamentally more accessible to lower income
individuals. But they didn't just rely on crushing
market inefficiency. They also went after the
cultural narrative. Right. The source outlines
an entire section on Plan C's cultural footprint.
In 2023, the organization was actually the subject
of a documentary film, appropriately titled Plan
C. Directed by Tracy Droz -Tregos. The documentary
focused heavily on their grassroots efforts,
shining a light on the specific logistics of
distributing at -home medications ordered from
the internet and delivered through the mail.
And it was a big deal. It received significant
acclaim, premiering at the 2023 Sundance Film
Festival. And it didn't stop at Sundance. The
film went on to win a Webby Award in 2024. Specifically
recognized for its creative use of social media
for advocacy. Right. Think about that combination
for a moment. You have a relatively small nonprofit
organization that is simultaneously leveraging
brutal market economics. Driving provider prices
down to five dollars through directory competition.
And high profile pop culture using Sundance documentaries
and Webby winning campaigns to normalize their
cause in the public eye. It is a highly multifaceted
approach to those four pillars we discussed earlier.
Research, connection, advocacy and disruption.
Exactly. They used independent data research
to build trust, market competition to lower financial
barriers, and cultural media to push for that
destigmatization they envisioned when they founded
the campaign in 2015. So, what does this all
mean? When you step back and look at the whole
timeline we have explored today, you see an incredible
journey. You really do. It starts with founders
physically ordering mystery pills to test them
in a lab in 2016. It evolves into issuing a call
to action that helps spark the launch of entirely
new venture -backed telehealth startups during
a global pandemic. And it culminates in navigating
some of the most massive, turbulent historical
shifts in U .S. medical and legal policy by pushing
concepts like advanced provision. It is a comprehensive
look at how a single organization continuously
adapted its strategies in response to a constantly
shifting legal, medical and digital environment.
Truly. Now, as we wrap up, we want to reiterate
our promise to you from the top of the show.
Today's deep dive was strictly an exploration
of the contents of the Plan C Wikipedia article.
Yes. We want to remind you that our show remains
entirely neutral. We are not taking a stance
on the politics, the legality or the morality
of the topic. Our goal today was simply to arm
you with the facts, the timeline, and the history
of this organization exactly as it is written
in the source text provided. Absolutely. This
raises an important question, though. When we
look at the pure mechanics of what we read today.
What's that? Regardless of the specific medical
focus, this source material forces us to consider
how grassroots campaigns and digital directories
can fundamentally alter the delivery mechanisms
of healthcare information in the modern digital
age. age. Yeah. It shows how rapidly a centralized
guide can impact both public awareness and actual
tangible market pricing. It's a powerful tool.
That is a brilliant point to take away. And I
want to leave you with one final thought to mull
over on your own. Okay. It builds entirely on
that fascinating detail from the text. The concept
of advanced provision that gains so much traction
in 2022. Right. The proactive approach. It represents
a massive shift from reactive medicine treating
a condition after it happens to highly proactive
medical preparedness. So I want you to ponder
this. How might the concept of advanced provision,
the idea of ordering and keeping specific restricted
medications on hand for a hypothetical future
event, reshape other areas of our health care
system? That's a huge question. And as regulations
constantly shift from state to state, what does
that concept mean for the future of your own
personal medical autonomy? Something to think
about. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive,
and we will catch you next time.