I scour the globe for stories worth reading about ventures that are a true force for good for humanity and our planet.
That’s why I’m THRILLED to introduce Kiki Freedman, Cofounder & CEO of Hey Jane.
Kiki and Hey Jane’s mission is to provide fast, safe and affordable abortion care to the 1 in 4 women in America who seek abortions during their lifetimes. They’ve raised $2.2m in an over-subscribed round, and have seen customer growth increase by 300% between Q1 and Q2 of 2021.
Let’s dive into the deep end.
Diana Tsai: What’s the problem you’re solving?
Kiki Freedman: Providing critical healthcare to anyone with a uterus – specifically, access to reproductive healthcare. 1 in 4 women will need an abortion during their lives. Right now, abortion is too difficult to get logistically, financially, and from a stigma and emotional perspective. That’s why we provide fast, affordable abortion care from home.
We’re solving a healthcare issue, not a political one. It’s not political, because 1 in 4 women will have an abortion during their lifetimes, and data shows that these women are equally spread across party lines. So really, this is a healthcare issue – with demand coming from both sides of the party lines.
Tsai: How are you solving it?
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Freedman: We have a 3 pillar approach to care: physical, social, and emotional. There’s a huge gap in support across all of these pillars. On the physical side, we provide fast, affordable abortion care from home – $249 for treatment, with financial assistance available. We offer our patients a chat with a caring doctor within 24 hours of contact, and medications are shipped daily. On the social side, 2/3rds of patients don’t talk to friends or family about their experiences. Creating a safe online space for this community is really critical and something we provide for our patients.
Tsai: How do you measure impact?
Freedman: We’re not able to share total numbers now on patients served, but we can share that the number of patients we’ve served has increased 300% between Q1 and Q2. Average ratings come through at 9.8 and 9.9.
Something that’s very important to us on the impact side is providing broad access across communities. That’s why we’ve partnered with University of California to make sure we’re accessing people across socio-economic and racial lines, and the results so far are very promising.
Tsai: What motivated you personally to start Hey Jane?
Freedman: The origin story came about in 2019, I was observing how the one abortion clinic left in Missouri was about to get shut down. It was this dystopian reality that there might be a state that existed in 2020 that doesn’t offer abortion. At the same time telehealth was exploding, primarily for men.
1 in 4 women will get an abortion in their lives. Even for the remainder who don’t, we don’t want to live in a state of constant fear that our bodies will be governed by external forces. The idea that we’re still arguing for autonomy over our bodies at this point is outrageous.
Tsai: Speaking of still having to fight for autonomy over our bodies, what actions has Hey Jane taken in response to the Texas abortion law?
Freedman: We saw that many companies stayed silent on the Texas abortion law. So we brought together a collective of health and wellness startups to sign and speak up, together. We just took out a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times for our campaign, Access Is Freedom. The ad reads, “Access is dignity. Access is power. Access is freedom” and features a site where readers can directly donate to organizations supporting reproductive freedom. Join the movement here: https://www.accessisfreedom.com/
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