Why Abortion Pill Packages Don't Arrive, and How to Fix It

Filling out the form right now?

If your package is going to someone else's address, put the name of the person who lives there on the "c/o" line. Your name still goes on the package.

The label reads: your name, then "c/o" and their name, then the address. That is how the post office knows the package is yours and that it belongs at that address.

What the package says on the outside

Your name goes on the package. It has to, because that is how the post office knows whose it is and why it belongs at that address. Without a name that matches, mail can get sent back.

What is not on the package: no clinic name, nothing about what is inside, and no hint of what it is for. It is a plain, unbranded envelope. Someone who sees it on the table cannot tell what it is or where it came from.

Four things that stop a package arriving

1. A missing apartment or unit number

This is the most common one among younger patients, and the reason is nearly always the same: the idea that leaving off the apartment number means the package goes to the building generally, and nobody at home sees it.

It does not work that way. An address without a unit number usually cannot be delivered at all. It gets returned, or left at the wrong door. Leaving it off does not make delivery more private. It makes it not arrive.

If you are worried about who might see the package at home, the fix is a different address, not an incomplete one. There are options further down.

2. A missing c/o line

If the package is going to someone else's home and carries only your name, the post office sees a name that does not live at that address. Sometimes it gets delivered anyway. Sometimes it goes back. The c/o line is what removes that doubt, and missing it is the single most common cause of failed delivery we see.

3. An active mail forwarding order

If you, or someone in your household, filed a change of address with the post office, your package can be rerouted to that new address. It is not lost, but it can take several extra days and end up somewhere you were not expecting. If you have moved recently, it is worth checking before you choose an address.

4. Private mailbox stores

This is the one address we ask you not to use. Private mailbox stores and mail-forwarding services are not post offices. Many of them open the packages they receive, and several have policies of discarding medications.

If your address is a rented mailbox at a store, pick a different option. A real post office PO box is fine.

If home is not a safe place to receive it

You have options, and all of them are ordinary:

A friend or relative's place: use the c/o line with their name.
General Delivery: the post office holds it at a branch and you pick it up with your ID. You do not need to have an address there.
A post office PO box: works fine, as long as it is the post office's and not a store's.

If your package has not arrived

Start with the tracking number we sent you. Most packages that feel lost are still moving, or have already arrived somewhere you have not checked yet.

If tracking says delivered and you do not have it: give it 24 hours. Carriers sometimes scan a package as delivered before they drop it. Check with anyone else at the address, with neighbors, and anywhere packages usually get left. After that, call your local post office with the tracking number, which is usually more useful than the national line.

If it still has not turned up, contact us. We can see what happened on our end and tell you what your options are. You do not have to sort this out alone.