Mayday Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that educates on medication abortion and how to access it in the United States. It was founded in 2022 in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) court decision that limited access to abortion in many U.S. states.[1][2][3][4]
Mayday educates on self-managed abortion and does not sell or distribute the abortion pill.[5][6]
Mayday was founded after the leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The organization launched on the day of the Dobbs decision.[7]
Tactics
Mayday uses guerrilla tactics to raise awareness about abortion pills, in a break from traditional organizations like Planned Parenthood.[1][8]
Mayday advocated in Massachusetts for a law to shield healthcare providers who mail abortion pills to patients in other states.[9][10]
The mayday.health website is written at a fifth grade reading level. It is available in multiple languages. It does not track data from visitors.[11]
In December 2022, Mayday published an undercover video filmed inside crisis pregnancy centers, arguing that the centers share false information with women seeking abortion.[12][13]
In June 2023, Mayday opened a pop-up "abortion store" art installation in Bastrop, Texas to show that free speech can be used to talk about access to abortion pills, even in ban states.[14][15][16]
In August 2024, Mayday purchased 4 billboards in San Antonio, Texas that displayed the message: “Everything’s bigger in Texas: including our infant mortality rate.” The stated goal of the billboards was to raise public awareness of a new study published by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicating that the infant mortality rate rose 8% in Texas in the year after the Texas Heartbeat Act abortion ban was adopted in September 2021 while the rest of the country experienced a 2% increase. The researchers also found that the number of infants that died of birth defects in Texas increased by 23%, while the number decreased by 3% in the rest of the country.[17][18][19]
Social media
Mayday reached millions of people within 48 hours of its launch using viral infographics about how to access safe abortion pills by mail, starting with zero followers the day of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.[7]
Mayday has criticized Facebook and Instagram for restricting access to their platforms for health education information.[9] When Spotify blocked Mayday ads about abortion pills, Mayday released a 119 hour "Spotify Rapist Playlist" of sexual predators hosted by the platform to pressure Spotify for policy changes.[20][21][22]
In January 2023, Jennifer Lincoln, an OB/GYN and social media influencer, became Executive Director of Mayday.[2] In January 2024, co-founder Olivia Raisner transitioned to the role and Dr. Lincoln moved to the Board of Directors.[23][24]
Mayday received a subpoena from the state of Mississippi. Mayday rejected the subpoena, citing censorship of free speech. Mayday put up 20 additional billboards and ran a television ad in Mississippi.[4][6][31]
In October 2022, the University of Idaho advised students and professors to avoid speaking about abortion pills or contraception. Mayday ran a mobile billboard in Idaho with the same message as Mississippi.[32][33][34]
In April 2023, the district court ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA (2023) against approval of mifepristone referenced Mayday as a new organization that "focuses on those who live in states with abortion bans, giving users step-by-step instructions on how to set up temporary addresses in an abortion permissive state and forward the mail into the banned state."[35][36][37]
Staff
Olivia Raisner - Executive Director, Co-founder
Sam Koppelman - Co-founder
Nathaniel Horwitz - Co-founder
See also
Dobbs v. Jackson – 2022 United States Supreme Court case on abortionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Roe v. Wade – 1973 US Supreme Court decision on abortion
Planned Parenthood – US nonprofit reproductive health services organization
Plan C – Non-profit medication abortion information provider
^"Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC No. 2:22-CV-223"(PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. 12 April 2023. Despite state laws, mailed medication abortion can cross borders in ways that undermine state laws . . . A new organization, Mayday Health, for example, focuses on those who live in states with abortion bans, giving users step-by-step instructions on how to set up temporary addresses in an abortion permissive state and forward the mail into the banned state.
