Interest in the Emergency Contraceptive Pill Intensified After a Leaked Supreme Court Opinion

People were rushing to Google GOOG, 2.86% to check the status on emergency contraception pills after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion signaled the court would reverse the landmark decision Roe v. Wade. 

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the leaked draft, published by Politico late Monday night, was authentic but didn’t represent members’ final opinions. If Roe is overturned, the legality of abortion would be left up to states to decide. 

In the 24 hours following the leak, Google searches for Plan B — the most widely available emergency contraception brand — and its shelf life had grown more than 5,000%. As of Wednesday morning, searches for “Is Plan B going to be illegal” were up 1,500%. 

Searches for other contraceptives such as Ella, a similar pill that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex, also surged on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning on Google, but they weren’t as high in volume as searches for Plan B.

Walgreens WBA, -0.91%, Amazon AMZN, 0.79% and Walmart WMT, -1.14% didn’t immediately return MarketWatch requests for comment on whether they had seen a surge in Plan B sales after the Supreme Court leak. CVS CVS, -0.29% said it didn’t have any updates to share on sales, but added “emergency contraception continues to be available at CVS Pharmacy locations.” Foundation Consumer Healthcare (FCH), the maker of Plan B One-Step, said it does not comment on sales.

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