A mother concerned about the future of women’s reproductive rights has filmed herself taking action to prepare for any potential changes.
Dawn Bantel, a naturopathic physician based in Tucson, Arizona, only joined social media in 2020. “A business coach advised me that all businesses need a social media presence and advised me to join Instagram,” Bantel told Newsweek. “My daughter turned me on to TikTok shortly after that.”
Everything changed the moment Bantel joined TikTok. “I quickly realized that TikTok had the potential to have a much broader reach,” she said. Today, Bantel’s social media presence is less about business and more about “empowering people by educating them about their health.”
More recently, this empowerment has taken the form of a proactive approach to obtaining contraception for her daughter. It comes amid uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump will look to restrict access to contraception in the U.S.
TikTok/drdawnbantel
During her election campaign, Democrat candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly claimed her rival was looking at introducing “restrictions.” While Trump did say he would be “looking at” restrictions to a person’s right to contraception, he also later appeared to walk back his comments.
His position was thrown into further doubt by another interview in which he suggested he would be open to restricting access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
Whatever the reality of the situation, Trump’s election victory saw requests for contraceptives, including long-term birth control and so-called “morning after” pills soar.
Bantel is among those taking action. “Like many, I had wanted to be proactive about being prepared for the changes coming with this administration,” she said. “As a mother, this seems like one small way to prepare. As a health content creator, it made sense to share about doing this in case people didn’t know this was possible and affordable.”
To highlight this, Bantel created a video, posted to her TikTok, drdawnbantel, showing her covertly purchasing the contraceptive Plan B from a CostCo. In the clip, Bantel can be heard asking what the “maximum” number of packs she can buy is. A caption included alongside the video also suggests it might be “a good idea to stock up.”
At the time of writing, Bantel’s video had been watched 1.2 million times.
“I’m surprised that it went viral, but am not so surprised about the comments,” Bantel said. “Many people commented that they weren’t aware that they could just walk up to the pharmacy window and purchase Plan B for $6.51 at a Costco. Many commented that they would be doing this as a result of this video.”
Despite the positive response the clip has received, Bantel said she remains “absolutely terrified” about how much further women’s “reproductive rights” could be eroded in the coming years and said she believes people should consider “stockpiling” contraceptives.
