Hannah Smothers

No matter how many times you hear someone say that New Year’s Eve is a totally arbitrary holiday, or that the concept of January as a “fresh start” is bogus, the end of the year can still feel, somehow, very significant. And there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that; structure  and routines can add meaning to our lives, and for some people, the turning of the calendar might feel comforting. But the start of a new year doesn’t bring glass-clinking feelings for everyone, and reflecting on the past 12 months might not be so enjoyable if you’ve had A Year. As much as some of us might like to, we can’t always leave all the bad things behind—like the soreness from a big breakup, or the lingering resentment for the boss who fired you—once the clock strikes midnight on December 31. And not to be an even bigger party pooper, but making a New Year’s resolution (to, say, not text your ex or to get a new job) can feel more like an overly critical mandate than a hopeful goal if you’re already feeling low. All of this is to say: For a lot of people, the end of year doesn’t bring glowy, reminiscent feelings, and may even stir up anxiety and dread. If that’s where you’re at, take heart: There are a few strategies that can help you reframe the new year, or, at the very least, make it easier to ignore.Make New Year’s Eve plans you’re genuinely looking forward to. How do you really want to enter the January? Is it standing in a crowded bar while balloons fall from the ceiling (read: standing in line at the bar, antsy as you wait for your $50 champagne flute)? Is it in a big group hug with friends and/or family at a house party in your neighborhood? Or is it in your PJs, in that sublime space between being awake and asleep, cozied up in your home? There are no wrong answers here, but try to be honest with yourself and then figure out your celebration accordingly: Are you planning an evening that aligns with what you actually want? Or are you doing what feels expected, even though you’d rather be home with friends or a loved one? “Don’t be afraid to deviate from the norm and do something different than you normally would,” Madison Wise, LPC, a therapist with Just Mind Counseling in Austin, tells SELF. “You can create new traditions at any point in time.” Setting your own traditions might mean saying no to what others want you to do; for example, maybe you prefer to skip that ticketed bar party this year in favor of staying home and ordering takeout with a partner. If that’s the case, Wise recommends having a light-but-honest conversation with your friends about how you’d like to usher the new year in. When you’re delivering the news, it can help to cater your approach to the person you’re talking to. Is this someone you can be truly vulnerable with, or will a simple, “honestly, I have too much going on right now to deal with finding an Uber at 12:30 a.m. so I’m going to sit this year out” suffice? Part of honoring your own boundaries means being aware of how other people will react to you, too. For example, if you share personal information with a friend who’s always dismissed your feelings, you might find they want to debate you about your proposed plans or your reasoning. Give yourself permission to be honest about what you want to do on the 31st without giving everyone the entire truth of your horrible 2022, if that’s what feels right to you.Say farewell to 2022 in whatever way feels good. Even if the bad things that happened in your life in 2022 will continue to affect you in 2023, you can still say goodbye to elements of them at the end of the month. For example, you might make a list of crummy things you had to endure in the past year that you will likely not have to repeat in the new one. If 2022, say, involved an unexpected, heart-throttling breakup, you may still be dealing with the ache, but the actual act of ending the relationship or finding a new apartment on your own is something you can leave behind. Or, if you got laid off from a company you really loved, you may still be settling into your new job, but updating your resume and interviewing is behind you. 

It can also be helpful to recognize that remarks about your romantic life aren’t even really about you, but about the people making them. “Families put pressure on us for many reasons, but most are fear-based,” Dr. Creson says. “Fear for us, or fear for themselves. But we don’t need to take on our family’s fears and internalize them.” What Dr. Creson means is that what you hear as your family’s concern that you’ll be single forever may be based on what they think constitutes a “good” lifeBut, as you know, there are so many different ways a happy, successful life can look—and your family’s model of that might not line up with your own. “If we are fine where we are, but our families want something different for us, that’s on them,” Dr. Creson says. “If we live a life that is not aligned with our own values just to please someone else, that’s where we get into feelings of loneliness, resentment, and dissatisfaction. We can’t pick our families, but we can divorce our sense of worth from their beliefs and connect them more to our own.” Even if your ideas line up with your family’s, and you do wish you weren’t single, listening to their pressure and internalizing isn’t going to help you feel better. “If we wish we were somewhere else in our own lives, shame isn’t going to help us get there,” Dr. Creson says. “Shame shuts us down and keeps us stuck. Contrary to popular belief, tough love doesn’t usually help motivate people.” And that also applies to the kind of love you extend to yourself.Actively reach out to friends for support.As writer J.P. Brammer recently addressed in his advice column, ¡Hola Papi!, it can sometimes feel like you’re the only person reaching out to others. Rather than keeping score—and not getting in touch with others if you’re dwelling on a perceived imbalance—it’s better to ask for what you need, and sometimes what you need is companionship. As Brammer succinctly puts it, “I have limited time on this planet, and I’d rather try and fail to connect than keep to myself until I’m dead.” Dr. Creson offers similar advice: If you wait around for people to think of you first, you may find you’re waiting longer than you’d like to. It’s not a personal affront unless you choose for it to be, especially during this time of year, when people are combating a host of various difficulties associated with friends and family, or just trying to be on their phones less, it’s easy for friendships to get lost in the tide.If you feel like you’re burdening your friends, take a step back and examine where that feeling is coming from. Are you reaching out to the same friend with the same issue every day, or do you just have the ambient feeling of being “too much”? If it’s the former, Dr. Creson advises asking your go-to friend if they have space to hear you out and/or hang out with you; if it’s the latter, consider that your brain may be leading you astray. When you do reach out to check in—which you should!—Dr. Creson says that it’s best to do so without expectation. “Allow whatever answer comes, and don’t feel bad if a friend isn’t up for it at any given time,” she says. “They might just be going through their own stuff—ask another friend.” 

A recent New York Times report detailed an extremely messed up story of social media vigilantism: A 33-year-old woman with a health condition unrelated to monkeypox was filmed by strangers who assumed she was just out and about with the virus, based solely on the appearance of her skin. The video was posted to TikTok, where it went viral enough that it was sent back to the woman, Lilly Simon, who lives in Brooklyn.Simon explained in a follow-up TikTok of her own that she doesn’t have monkeypox but a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 1, which causes tumors to grow along her nerve endings. “I’m not new to people being mean to the condition,” Simon told The New York Times. Given the current monkeypox outbreak, which was recently declared a public health emergency in the U.S., she assumed something like this would be “inevitable.”I can’t believe we have to say this, but please do not attempt to diagnose monkeypox in strangers. It’s both immoral and impossible to look at someone you don’t know and accurately claim, based on appearances alone, that they are infected with monkeypox. While it’s true that one common symptom of the virus is a painful rash that typically appears as pustules, or little bumps that look similar to pimples or blisters, other symptoms—and medical testing—will ultimately confirm a person’s diagnosis. Also, not all monkeypox lesions look the same; while some people have full-blown rashes, others have a single, pimple-like bump. Like with any other condition, it’s impossible to know what any given stranger’s current health status is.“In general, we shouldn’t be trying to diagnose people based on looking at them,” Shari Marchbein, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City and a member of the SELF Medical Review Board, tells SELF. “We don’t go up to people and start diagnosing things on their skin with an untrained eye. And I think what has happened with monkeypox is that it’s become very stigmatizing.”Dr. Marchbein is right. Monkeypox is currently spreading predominantly, though not exclusively, via sexual contact between men who have sex with men, which has led some people to discount the seriousness of the virus. Even the name has negative connotations; in June, the World Health Organization announced it is “working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus” after scientists voiced concerns that the current name is discriminatory and stigmatizing. And while monkeypox is caught in the midst of a debate over whether or not it should be referred to as a sexually transmitted infection, Dr. Marchbein emphasizes that thinking of the disease that way is currently incorrect: The virus is widely spreading via close, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not yet determined whether it can be transmitted via bodily fluids, such as semen or vaginal fluid. The CDC also says that monkeypox is not transmissible via “casual conversations” or “walking by someone with monkeypox” in a public space like a grocery store or thrift shop.

Last week, the Biden Administration declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 8,900 monkeypox cases have been reported in the U.S. at the time of publication, and that number is rising by the day.Experts’ understanding of this monkeypox outbreak, including how the virus is widely spreading, is evolving, but if you’ve been on social media—particularly on TikTok—in recent weeks, you’ve likely heard a common plea: Be especially cautious in thrift stores. These concerns have likely risen because monkeypox can potentially spread via direct contact with objects that have been contaminated with the monkeypox virus, including fabrics, according to the CDC.But how valid are these warnings? From what experts know right now, monkeypox transmission via activities like shopping for clothes, whether the items are considered to be used or new, is “very, very unlikely,” Peter Chin-Hong, MD, a professor of medicine specializing in infectious disease at the University of California San Francisco, tells SELF. “It’s very difficult to get infected with monkeypox through clothing, except in a household-context situation with lots and lots of contact,” Dr. Chin-Hong says. (In this scenario, an uninfected person faces a higher risk if they’re living with or taking care of someone who has a confirmed case of monkeypox.)Outside of this specific household context, a person would need to have prolonged contact with a garment that’s, in turn, come into prolonged contact with monkeypox lesions or sores to face a high risk of infection from clothing—for example, if you rubbed your skin along the contaminated fabric until you experienced microscopic cuts through which the virus could enter your body, Dr. Chin-Hong explains.The idea of a “hierarchy of risk” is something many of us are now familiar with, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic (remember when we were all washing our groceries?). As Dr. Chin-Hong explains, shopping of any kind—including thrifting for clothes—is very low on the hierarchy of risk for monkeypox transmission as experts currently understand it. Instead, the riskiest activities that are driving the current outbreak are those that involve close, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with someone who has an active infection—like, say, kissing an infected person. While the CDC also says that “touching objects, fabrics, and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox” is a potential mode of transmission, Dr. Chin-Hong stresses that surface transmission, like touching a doorknob, is less likely to lead to infection.The CDC also notes that monkeypox appears to be susceptible to household cleaners, so the current recommendation, if you’re living with someone who has an active case, is to disinfect surfaces and keep clothing and linens separate until the person who is sick fully recovers and is no longer contagious.Of course, our understanding of viruses can change rapidly as an outbreak grows. The best way to protect yourself if you’re in a high-risk group is to get the monkeypox vaccine if you’re eligible. Otherwise, all the precautions you’ve taken throughout the last couple of years will go a long way in helping to reduce your risk of getting sick from, well, anything. Follow local guidelines based on monkeypox transmission rates in your area; if you develop any potentially concerning symptoms, including a skin rash or flu-like illness, the CDC says you should isolate yourself from other people and reach out to a health care provider if you can—just be sure to call before you show up in person, so the location can take appropriate precautions.In the meantime, you shouldn’t stress over shopping as you normally would—and that should include being diligent about washing or sanitizing your hands, keeping your hands away from your face, and throwing any clothing into the washing machine before wearing them out.Related:

As the COVID-19 vaccines first rolled out in the United States, an unanticipated, anecdotal side effect started to emerge: Many people speculated that the vaccine seemed to have an effect on their menstrual cycle.Studies that examined whether those anecdotes may be explained by science were sparse and small—not surprising, given the slow pace of research on menstruation within vaccine trials. Then, in July, the largest study of its kind published in the journal Science Advances added some support to the claims people were sharing online. Here’s what we know, so far, about how the COVID vaccines may affect a person’s period—and why more research is still needed.How the vaccine may affect those who menstruate regularlyTo start with a caveat: Even with the newest Science Advances study, Alyssa Dweck, MD, FACOG, an ob-gyn in New York, emphasizes that most of the evidence we have on the COVID vaccines’ potential effects on periods is still anecdotal. Meaning, if there is a clear cause-and-effect link between the vaccines and menstrual changes, it has not been scientifically established yet.However, the Science Advances study does suggest there could be a correlation between the vaccine regimen and temporary changes in a person’s menstrual cycle. For the study, researchers surveyed more than 35,000 people between the ages of 18 and 80. A majority of respondents received either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna two-dose series, so these vaccines were the focus of the study’s analyses. Overall, respondents were also vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and AstraZeneca vaccines.According to the study, 42% of people surveyed who regularly menstruate reported having heavier periods after receiving the COVID vaccine, while 44% reported experiencing no changes to their periods at all.“In my practice, I’ve definitely seen people have changes in their menstruation—whether it’s the onset, the duration, or the heaviness [of their period]—after the vaccines,” Dr. Dweck tells SELF. “But it seems to be transient. Or, in other words, it’s not every cycle after the fact, but really more like a one-and-done type of situation.”Recent studies support Dr. Dweck’s observations. A survey of nearly 4,000 people, published in The BMJ in January 2022, found that those who experienced longer or heavier periods returned to their typical flow within two menstrual cycles post-vaccination. And a 2022 study out of Norway, published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, similarly found that people’s periods generally returned to normal within two to three cycles. In response to these studies, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its COVID-19 vaccine FAQ page to reflect that there may be a “small, temporary change” in a person’s menstrual period after vaccination.How the vaccine may affect those who don’t typically menstruateAccording to the Science Advances study, changes in periods were more widely reported in those who don’t have a typical period. Breakthrough bleeding (spotting that occurs when a period is not expected) after the COVID vaccine was reported by 71% of people on long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), 39% of people taking gender-affirming hormones, and 66% of postmenopausal people.

At this point, it may be easier to count how many regions across the United States are not experiencing major heat waves this summer. Austin, which is hot in any given year, has been breaking temperature records over and over again. The heat wave roiling through the Northeast is set to break record-high temps in Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. On July 6, The New York Times reported that somewhere around 70 million people in the U.S. were under heat advisories or warnings.So it’s safe to say: It’s extremely hot out there. And while we know the effects severe, prolonged heat can have on our physical states—excessive sweat, increased risk of dehydration, and heat exhaustion or heat stroke, among others—these sweltering temperatures can also have significant effects on our mental well-being, too. Namely, the heat can make many of us exceedingly cranky and, in some cases, downright angry.It may come as a comfort to know, however, that your desire to throw a little tantrum each day that pushes 100 degrees is totally valid, experts say.“As temperatures rise, we can become more emotional and angrier,” Joshua Klapow, PhD, clinical psychologist and creator of Mental Drive, tells SELF. “But only as we move from relative comfort to relative discomfort. As we become more physically uncomfortable, our ability to manage our emotions is diminished.”Dr. Klapow adds that your nervous system releases adrenaline and other “fight or flight” chemicals to try to manage a higher temperature, which your body understandably perceives as a threat. “So, the hotter our bodies get, we lose our ability to manage impulses associated with that discomfort,” he explains. “We become more impulsive emotionally because we are focused on regulating our bodies.”Some research backs this up. One 2021 meta-analysis and review of research, published in the journal Environment International, found a correlation between higher average temperatures and poor mental health outcomes, suggesting that there’s a slight (2.2%) increase in mental health-related mortality per every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit rise in temperature. The authors of the paper note studies have found that mental health–related hospital admissions and emergency department visits for mental health conditions like anxiety, depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and others increased with high temperatures.As Dr. Klapow explains, your coping abilities—or lack thereof in certain scenarios—are mostly tied to just feeling not-so-great in your own body. So when it’s approaching 100 degrees in New York City for days on end, residents who are stuck waiting for a train on a painfully hot subway platform may find themselves in the mood to lash out as a result.“Our bodies work to adapt to the climate we’re in,” Dr. Klapow says. “As our physical environment changes—i.e., temps rise or fall—our body is working to adapt. That effort takes away from our ability to emotionally regulate. And as the environment we are in changes significantly, via heat waves or freezing temps, we are thrown into a state of having to adapt.”Given the reality of climate change, we know that hotter summers are here to stay—and will get even hotter. But the next time you find yourself picking a fight on yet another record-breakingly hot day, feel free to blame the heat. It’s just science.Related:

There are countless devastating effects that can and will result from the fall of Roe v. Wade, but one emergent and chilling consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision is how abortion bans may influence the crucial treatment of miscarriages.By definition, a miscarriage—known as a spontaneous abortion—is a nonviable pregnancy that occurs before the week 20 of gestation; after that, it’s considered a stillbirth. The treatment options are very similar to those of abortion—there is no way to stop or prevent a miscarriage that has already been diagnosed. That means providers in states with total or near-total bans, such as Texas, now face a legally murky landscape when it comes to care.As Luu Ireland, MD, an ob-gyn in Massachusetts and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, tells SELF, a miscarriage is a pregnancy that cannot be safely carried to term. “There is no chance of it going on to be a normal pregnancy,” Dr. Ireland says. While the research varies, it’s estimated that between 10 to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, per the Mayo Clinic, but experts believe that figure could be much higher.Sometimes a miscarriage could mean that the embryo is not having cardiac activity at the expected time, that the gestational sac (a fluid-filled structure that protects the embryo) is growing but the fetus isn’t, or that someone is actively bleeding in the process of passing a pregnancy. It’s difficult for a doctor to know what has caused a particular miscarriage, but as Planned Parenthood notes, it’s almost never something the pregnant person has done. And Dr. Ireland is clear: “What clinches a diagnosis is what the outcome would be, which is, this is not a viable pregnancy, and it will never be a normal pregnancy.”Meera Shah, MD, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, tells SELF that there are a couple of treatment options for a miscarriage: One involves administering the exact same two drugs that are used in a medication abortion (mifepristone and misoprostol), and another involves performing a dilation and curettage, or a D&C, which is a surgical procedure that is done to remove tissue from inside the uterus. “Regardless of the status of the pregnancy, whether it’s a viable pregnancy or a miscarriage, the treatment options are exactly the same,” Dr. Ireland says.How might abortion bans affect crucial miscarriage treatment?Similar to the way that abortion bans can potentially affect the lifesaving treatment needed for an ectopic pregnancy, treating a miscarriage may become unnecessarily complicated and could lead to dangerous delays in care in states where legal abortion is illegal or criminalized, according to Dr. Ireland.“Because it’s the same medication used in abortions, we are seeing a lot of pushback from pharmacists,” Dr. Ireland says. “Patients aren’t getting the medication they need because the pharmacist is worried about legal repercussions. Instead of providing appropriate medical care, pharmacists are having to think about what they need to do to keep themselves safe. As a result, they are denying care to patients undergoing the very difficult process of having a miscarriage.”

Amid the COVID-19 surge caused by the now-dominant, highly contagious BA.5 subvariant, you might be wondering whether it’s time to re-up your booster shot. Your current ability to do so depends largely on who you are: Right now, a second booster shot is only available in the U.S. to people 50 and older, as well as some people 12 and older who are immunocompromised. But the Biden administration is working on a plan to administer second booster doses to everyone, regardless of age, as case numbers soar, The New York Times reports.As William Shaffner, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, tells SELF, the earliest timeline that vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna are projecting for a second booster is fall.“There isn’t any doubt that these downstream variants, BA.4 and BA.5, aren’t covered quite as well by the vaccines as was the original strain,” Dr. Shaffner says, adding that the current vaccines predate the surge in omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. “They’re good, but not perfect, and that’s the reason why both manufacturers are working on updating their vaccines, which they anticipate to have ready sometime this fall, and which will include something to protect against these variants. They talk about October, which usually means sometime in November.”As Anthony Fauci, MD, the country’s leading infectious disease expert and the chief medical adviser to the White House, recently told The New York Times, there’s not yet enough evidence to support that healthy people under 50 need a second booster. However, he added that since most people in that age group received their booster shot in late 2021, the effectiveness of that dose is likely waning and potentially offering less protection against BA.5. Studies indicate that the vaccines’ effectiveness wane over time, which leaves people particularly vulnerable amid this latest surge. A second booster would help remedy that. But we’re not quite there—yet. As has been the case with COVID-19 over the past two years, the situation is rapidly evolving. The New York Times reports the Biden administration could weaken its argument for second boosters by promoting them now, so officials may wait to make a strong case until the reformulated boosters are released this fall, given that they’re expected to be redesigned to better combat BA.4 and BA.5.For now, the best protection against BA.5 remains the existing vaccines and boosters that are recommended for you—they still offer good protection against severe illness, even from BA.5, Dr. Shaffner says. To further reduce your risk of infection, you should follow the precautions we now know so well—wear a face mask, wash your hands well, test often, avoid overly crowded spaces if you are able to, and be ready to line up for your second booster once the time comes.Related:

If you’re reaching for your mask again (or you never stopped wearing it in the first place), we don’t blame you. A new omicron subvariant—called BA.5—is now the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the United States, and early reports suggest it is spreading quickly and widely. Hotspots have emerged in the Northeast and Midwest, according to a New York Times analysis, but COVID-19 cases are on the rise nationwide.A lot of questions are swirling about BA.5, but how worried should you be? Here, SELF breaks down the most important questions so you can stay safe.Is BA.5 the most contagious subvariant yet?In short: yes. “BA.5 gets an A-plus for contagiousness,” William Shaffner, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, tells SELF. “It’s more transmissible than its parent, omicron, which makes it about as transmissible as our most contagious viruses. There have been some of my colleagues who compared it to measles, to which we give the gold medal.”Given that BA.5 is also now the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the U.S., there are rising case counts in many parts of the country. Some areas, like New York City, have upgraded their transmission levels to “high.” Local health officials have asked residents to take precautions, like wearing a mask in public and testing before and after travel.But case numbers are on the rise nationally. This time last year, there were about 29,000 new cases reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) per day; currently, the average number of new cases per day is around 132,000. This number is likely much lower than the actual number of cases, experts speculate, potentially due to the use of at-home rapid tests.BA.5 also appears to reinfect people who have previously had a COVID-19 infection. “That allows it to really move widely through the community,” Dr. Shaffner says. He likens COVID-19 reinfection to a “relatively minor illness, like a bad cold” for the average, healthy person—but the symptoms can greatly vary from person to person, and even reinfection can potentially cause severe illness. It’s not yet clear whether health issues compound with each COVID infection a person has, but a preliminary study suggests that people who’ve been infected more than twice are at increased risk of severe illness or death. And every COVID infection carries the risk of developing long COVID, per the CDC.Dr. Shaffner says it’s not yet clear how quickly you can be reinfected with BA.5, but he puts it in the range of weeks, rather than months.What are the main symptoms of BA.5 so far?Dr. Shaffner emphasizes that any data on specific BA.5 symptoms is anecdotal so far, as there haven’t been any large-scale studies on the symptoms of this subvariant yet.“We’re hearing a lot about back and neck aches and pains,” Dr. Shaffner says. (Online, some people have shared that recent symptoms mimic those of meningitis, such as stiff neck and a severe headache.) “It’s all anecdotal, but as people have looked at previous variants, the distinctions between the variants have not been very large.”

In early May, when Politico published the leaked draft of the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, searches for the emergency contraceptive Plan B spiked, according to Google Trends data. And when the decision became official in late June, they spiked again, and much higher. On social media, a familiar cry echoed: Stock up on Plan B while you still can.Amid a stripping away of reproductive rights, the urge to keep whatever resources are available on hand is understandable. And Plan B is a really good resource. When used correctly, Plan B is up to 89% effective at preventing an unwanted pregnancy. But as quickly as there were cries to stock up on the emergency contraceptive, there were plenty of people saying the opposite: Avoid the urge to panic buy and don’t stockpile Plan B. So, if you want to make sure you have access should you ever need it, what’s the right move?Should I stockpile Plan B?“There’s nothing wrong with having one, two, or even three doses for personal use,” Steph Black, an abortion activist and writer in Washington, D.C., tells SELF. But, as Black adds, buying 10-plus doses from your local Walgreens, with plans to distribute them around your community, is likely less useful than you want it to be.In fact, Black says that planning to stock up on Plan B and act as “some sort of Plan B fairy” is potentially doing more harm than good. There are already community organizers with systems in place to distribute emergency contraception quickly and efficiently, and they likely know more about how to allocate resources than someone who panic-bought a bunch of pills. Rather than hoarding in the hopes of handing Plan B out to those in need, you’re better off supporting existing infrastructure, Black says. That could look like donating the money you would have spent to an abortion fund, or to a clinic that distributes free emergency contraceptives in your area.How can I ethically stock up on Plan B for myself?If you want a personal stash—a good idea, given that Plan B is most effective within 72 hours, and is even more effective if taken within 24 hours—Black recommends buying your pills online.There are several reasons for this: One is that, in the wake of the Dobbs decision, some pharmacies, including Rite Aid, began limiting the number of Plan B pills one customer could buy at a time. Another is that buying the pills online ensures that doses remain on local store shelves for those who live nearby, and who can’t wait on shipping. The third is that buying a store’s entire Plan B supply creates what Black calls a “contraception desert.”“Reproductive healthcare is community care, and when you clear the shelves of Plan B, you’re taking resources from an already marginalized group,” Black says. “Not everybody has the resources to get things shipped, or to wait to get things delivered. It’s a very time-sensitive medication, so if you’re buying it to have it on hand, and you can wait an extra week until it comes, that’s what you should be doing.”Anything else I should know about taking Plan B?Beyond taking emergency contraception as soon as possible—hence the utility of having a pill on hand—Plan B does have a few additional rules you should know about.