San Mateo company sees 5,200% increase in demand for birth control

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A San Mateo-based company that provides contraceptives to mainly college-age women, says it’s seen a spike of over 5,000% in demand for services. This comes just three days after the Supreme Court handed down its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  

Favor is a telemedicine, digital health company that can deliver birth control in all 50 states. The company says the women reaching out to them are scared and trying to understand how they can better protect themselves.   

"There are currently in the United States, 19 million women and people who menstruate, who live in contraceptive deserts, which means they cannot easily access birth control," said Stephanie Swartz, Favor Sr. Director of Policy and Public Affairs.  

Favor, formerly known as The Pill Club, has 200,000 active members, and allows access to birth control after consultation. The company says demand for its services have increased by 5,200% since Friday from new and existing members.  

"In preparation for this moment, we launched a stand-alone, emergency contraceptive offering. Meaning that people can come to Favor’s website, heyfavor.com, sign up just in order to purchase emergency contraception or Plan B," Swartz said.   

Favor says the average age of their members is 24 and young women will be impacted the most by the Supreme Court’s decision. The UCLA Center for Reproductive, Health, Law and Policy reports that about 10,000 more women per year will come to California to seek an abortion.  

"In 2019, the governor signed a law that required all Cal State and University of California campuses to provide medication abortion on campus. So, to provide the medication that would enable people up to 10 weeks, to obtain abortions. That’s a really important protection," said Cary Franklin, Faculty Direct at the UCLA Center for Reproductive, Health, Law and Policy. 

Both Cal State and the University of California issued statements saying they’re deeply concerned about their students’ rights and ability to make medical decisions for themselves, and they’ll continue to provide reproductive healthcare under California law.  

MORE: California voters to weigh constitutional right to abortion

"I wouldn’t at all be surprised if young people vote with their feet and come in increasing numbers to California," Franklin said.   

Favor says they didn’t expect demand for birth control to immediately be this high, but they're prepared to provide contraceptives to women across the country.