Telemedicine provider Hey Jane has announced their launch of patient-centered reproductive and sexual health care services in Colorado. Hey Jane offers medication abortion, vaginal infection treatment for UTIs, yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis and herpes — both oral (HSV1) and genital (HSV2) — birth control, and emergency contraception.
“We have already earned the trust of tens of thousands of patients seeking medication abortions to help them with one of their most intimate health care needs, and are passionate about applying that same patient-centered approach to other equally important areas of reproductive health,” said Alyssa Wagner, DNP, RN, APRN, WHNP-BC, Hey Jane’s Medical Director in a news release. “We believe the best person to make decisions about their body is the patient themself. Our goal is to empower our patients with the knowledge and tools to prioritize their reproductive and sexual health and give them the support and prescriptions they need to do just that.”
Telemedicine providers like Hey Jane, which provides services through a secure messaging platform where patients will be able to consult with clinicians via text, phone, or video, help patients access care in what reproductive nonprofit Power to Decide describes as “contraceptive deserts,” or areas where women who are eligible for publicly funded contraception don’t have reasonable access to the full range of birth control methods. According to Power to Decide, in Colorado, 298,840 women are without accessible contraceptive options, and 6,670 women reside in counties that lack any health center offering a comprehensive range of contraceptive methods.
Last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has had a profound impact on the reproductive health landscape across the country. In the immediate aftermath, states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and others enforced pre-Roe laws banning abortion procedures. As a result, patients have turned to states like Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico. Following Dobbs, Colorado abortion funds and providers saw a marked increase in demand.
“We’re seeing around five hundred or more patients a month now,” said Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, the communications director for Wichita’s Trust Women clinic, which provides abortion services, back in March. “60% of those are from Texas. We operate a clinic here in Wichita and one in Oklahoma City. When [Texas Senate Bill 8] happened, then our Oklahoma City clinic really took the brunt of that exodus from Texas. There was a study that came out of the University of Texas a few months after SB8 that showed Oklahoma received around 47% of the people leaving Texas to seek abortion out of state, and that was largely in our clinic there in Oklahoma City. When Oklahoma banned abortion in May of last year, 2022, ahead of Dobbs, [those patients] shifted up to Wichita. We had been seeing more Oklahoma patients in Wichita as appointments became crunched. It was like a cascade of people, but then, of course, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, all the ban states, after Dobbs just really increased the demand on our clinic.”
In addition to restricting access to abortion, four states — Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas — have moved to limit access to contraceptives. In response, Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO), alongside others, introduced the Right to Contraception Act in June, which would codify and strengthen the legal right to contraceptives.
Also increasing the access to contraceptives, the FDA approved the first over-the-counter contraceptive, Opill, last month.
Hey Jane’s expansion of services is currently available in the 11 states where the company operates, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinoi, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington, with plans to launch in more states throughout 2023.
“When we started Hey Jane, we were addressing one of the most critical health care needs: abortion,” said Kiki Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Hey Jane in a news release. “Along the way, we’ve listened to our patients and witnessed firsthand the deteriorating state of reproductive and sexual health care in our country. We knew it was time to help expand access to other crucial services while continuing to provide the care patients deserve.”
