Should You Stock Up On The Morning-After Pill Post-Election?

Since the reelection of Donald Trump, women across the nation have been scared for the future of their reproductive healthcare. So much so that some women are swearing off of men and others are buying the morning-after pill in bulk. In fact, over the counter brands like Cadence OTC saw five times the amount of orders typically seen in a week just in one day post-election.

One TikTok creator shared that she recently learned that the shelf life for Plan B is four years. You know, four years, coincidentally the same amount of time someone is in office as president of the U.S. This seems pretty convenient until you realize that all the people thinking this might immediately jump to the thought, “I should stock up on Plan B,” which sounds like a good idea in theory, but I can’t help to think back to the early days of the pandemic when everyone ravaged supermarkets for toilet paper and suddenly there wasn’t any for the rest of us.

I’m on the birth control pill, but had to take Plan B once because I had missed a few days of taking my pill and had unprotected sex — so being aware of the morning-after pill accessibility can be beneficial for any person having sex.

What’s The Shelf Life Of The Morning-After Pill?

Different brands of the morning-after pill have different expiration dates. As mentioned above, Plan B has a shelf life of four years, but other brands like Ella expire after three years. Your best bet is just browsing your local pharmacy and checking out the different brands and whatever expiration date is printed on the box. Using one of these pills after their expiration date isn’t necessarily dangerous, but it does decrease its efficiency at preventing pregnancy.

Can Anyone Take The Morning-After Pill?

While there’s no “official” weight limit to the morning-after pills, they do become less effective after certain weights or BMIs — you know, because the only thing the world hates more than women is larger-bodied women. Plan B and other similar brands become less effective if you have a BMI of 25 or higher and sometimes completely ineffective at a BMI of 30. So if you’re a woman who’s 5’4″ and you weigh anywhere between 145 and 169 pounds… you have a BMI of 25 and the morning-after pill isn’t as effective for you. Just take that in for a moment! The average BMI of an American woman is 29.8, so we can just sit with that for a bit. Of course you can still take the pill, but it might just not work as well.

Where Can You Buy The Morning-After Pill?

Many are worried about the morning-after pill not being as readily available during a Trump presidency — whether they’re in anti-abortion states or not. While the morning-after pill is still totally available at local pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, in recent years there have also been an increase in online availability. Sites like Cadence OTC (mentioned above), Wisp, and even Amazon have the morning-after pill available for purchase. But remember that there’s no reason to buy like 50 of them. You can buy one to two and practice safe sex to decrease your likeliness of even needing to take the pill.