Amazon is limiting sales of Plan B and other emergency contraceptives to three units per customer as a result of increased demand, the company confirmed to various media outlets. The annulment of the U.S. Supreme Court last week by Roe v. Wade led to an increase in sales of Plan B and other generic brands of pills the day after levonorgestrel.
Customers requesting emergency contraception on Amazon still have a bit of a wait. Amazon’s main list for Plan B (a popular brand of levonorgestrel made by a company called Foundation Consumer Healthcare) shows an estimated delivery time from July 19 to August 6. MyChoice, a generic brand of levonorgestrel that is cheaper than Plan B, shows a delivery. dated July 28th. Engadget has contacted Amazon to get an estimate on when they will remove their sales limit and update it if they hear us.
Rite-Aid also limits online and face-to-face sales of emergency contraception to three per customer. Walmart has a more generous limit of 10 Plan B units per customer and Target limits Plan B online sales to six orders per customer. Following a time limit on sales, both Walgreens and CVS have removed Plan B purchase limits as of Tuesday evening.
“We continue to have an extensive supply of emergency contraceptives to meet customer needs,” Matt Blanchette, senior director of retail communications at CVS, told CNN.
Those who don’t want to turn to Amazon or a major drugstore chain have other online options for Plan. Both Instacart and GoPuff also offer Plan B for same-day delivery. Several telehealth startups like Wisp, Nurx, and Stix sell generic emergency birth control pills (although sales are restricted to certain states). Sales of emergency contraceptives in Wisp rose 40 percent after a leak of the court decision in May, Wisp confirmed to Engadget. In addition, sales were 25 times the daily average for May Friday, the day of the court ruling.
“We have been able to cope with the current increase in demand. We do not place any restrictions on emergency birth control pills,” Wisp CEO Ahmad Bani said in a statement to Engadget.
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