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carafem is a nonprofit organization that provides women’s reproductive health services in the United States. With health centers located in Chevy Chase, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia, carafem seeks to normalize, de-stigmatize and de-medicalize the provision of birth control and early abortion care in the midst of an ongoing polarized and politicized debate on abortion in the United States. The intentional use of certain language such as “health center” instead of “clinic” or openly using the word “abortion” in advertising reinforces the mission of carafem.

carafem centers provide information and low cost options for most methods of birth control including the pill, implant, injectable, intrauterine device (IUD), patch, ring and emergency contraception. They also provide early abortion care with medication.

carafem President Christopher Purdy and Vice President Melissa S. Grant have said that carafem responds to the fact that one of every three women in the U.S. will have an abortion in her lifetime yet it is increasingly difficult for women to obtain these services due to restrictions that are closing clinics and making it more challenging for others to stay open.

History
carafem opened its first health center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., in April 2015.

From the start, carafem sought to make the abortion experience comfortable and inviting. “With its natural wood floors and plush upholstery, carafem aims to feel more like a spa than a medical clinic,” according to the Washington Post. “The advertising reflects its unabashed approach – and a new push to de-stigmatize the nation’s most controversial medical procedure by talking about it openly and unapologetically.”

An example of that unabashed approach is the tagline carafem uses in most of its advertising: “Abortion. Yeah, we do that.”

carafem counsels clients on all of their options when facing an unintended pregnancy and provides the abortion pill (mifepristone) for clients electing early abortion with medication. The abortion process begins in the carafem office, where women are provided with the medication and information they need to complete the process at home.

The out-of-pocket cost of the service is $400, which carafem says is $100 less than the national average for the abortion pill.

carafem operates under the corporate name FemHealth USA, a registered 501(c) 3.

Maryland Health Center
The first carafem health center, which opened in Chevy Chase, Maryland in April 2015, has received high rates of client satisfaction: Nearly 100% of clients surveyed said they would recommend carafem to a friend.

Georgia Health Center
In May 2016, carafem opened a second health center in Atlanta. carafem said it opened the Atlanta location because more and more abortion providers in the South have been forced to close due to new laws, and women are left with fewer reproductive healthcare options as a result.