As Reproductive Rights Headline The Presidential Campaign, Emergency Contraception Brand Julie Expands To Walgreens

Emergency contraception brand Julie has launched at 4,500 Walgreens stores nationwide, increasing its total retail door count to 18,000 after CVS and Target rollouts last year. 

The drugstore chain’s green lighting of Julie, which sells a one-ct. pack of United States Food and Drug Administration-approved progestin‑only emergency contraception for $44.99 to $49.99–making its price similar to Plan B—is an affirmation of the business power of reproductive rights. Market research firm Grand View Research estimates the size of the emergency contraception market was $3.4 billion in 2022 and expects it to proceed at a compound annual growth rate of 5.24% from 2023 to 2030.

Still, Walgreens’ commitment to providing products enabling the exercise of reproductive rights hasn’t been consistent. In March 2023, it came under fire for refusing to distribute the mifepristone abortion pill in 21 states where Republican lawmakers objected to it. A year later, Walgreens and CVS began filling mifepristone prescriptions. The same month, over-the-counter birth control medication O Pill became available at pharmacies nationwide. 

Amanda E/J Morrison, CEO and co-founder of Julie, recognizes that massive public companies—Walgreens owner Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is traded on the Nasdaq—are balancing divergent pressures as they consider emergency contraceptive options. She explains they’re interested in modernizing their selection with brands like Julie that speak to young shoppers (EC’s core buyers are 18- to 24-year-olds), while simultaneously having to consider all their customers, “not just fertile women.”

“They’re trying to navigate that,” she says, adding, “You bring in Julie because you want to shake it up. You want the company that’s going to say the thing that’s sometimes inappropriate, put up the TikTok that nobody wants to talk about. We’re the one that’s going to throw the party on college campus, acknowledge the fact that everybody’s about to go have sex and say, ‘Here’s some emergency contraception.’ So, they are inherently taking a risk, a calculated and well-played one, but a risk nonetheless.”

Starting in the fall of last year, Julie activated on 15 campuses across the country, including Howard University, Columbia University, UCLA, Jackson State and University of Alabama, with table displays, sorority brunches and visits from Morrison. The visits are an opportunity for Julie to learn about the tendencies of college students—female students have told Morrison they aren’t on routine hormonal birth control, but use cycle tracking apps—and boost awareness and revenues. The brand experiences a lift in sales at stores near a campus for several weeks subsequent to an activation on that campus. 

Morrison mentions colleges in conservative states with restrictive abortion policies are receptive to partnering with Julie, and the brand’s sales are higher in such states. The colleges may be in liberal areas within those states and, regardless of their political leanings, Morrison points out no college is keen on student pregnancies, and Julie is a tool against those pregnancies. 

She says, “Even if they wouldn’t necessarily say it publicly, they need to educate their students on this and they may not necessarily want to take that responsibility…EC is your last line of defense. If you don’t want to get pregnant, you need to know about this product.” 

“You bring in Julie because you want to shake it up.”

The receptivity of college students to the national conversation on reproductive rights isn’t lost on Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate. She’s embarked on a tour of colleges in battleground states to excite first-time voters, among others. Gen Z is the most pro-choice generation.

To date, Julie hasn’t created much election-specific content, but plans to now that Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have delved into their policy plans. The brand will be posting a content series on Instagram and TikTok tackling issues it judges to be important in the election. 

“We’re not telling you who to vote for, but we’re like, is EC available in all 50 states? Yes. Is it firmly protected? No. And that depends on who’s in office,” says Morrison. “We’re helping you frame the questions you need to think about leading up to the election with real factual information.”

Julie Schott and Brian Bordainick, co-founders of buzzy skincare brands Starface and Futurewise and nicotine replacement therapy line Blip, launched Julie in 2022. They brought on Morrison, co-founder of Mented Cosmetics, to lead it. Starface has raised over $26 million in funding, according to financial information resource PitchBook, and the publication Puck News reported it’s on track to generate $90 million in sales this year. Like Julie and Blip, Bordainick’s next brand, harm reduction player Overdrive Defense, will be in the OTC realm. 

Julie has raised $7 million in funding, per PitchBook. Cue Ball, Amplifyher Ventures, Connect Ventures, Align Ventures and Cosmic Venture Partners have invested in the brand. It’s lowered prices since it hit the market to improve competitiveness and enlarge its customer base. Julie kicked off with its two-ct. pack priced at $70.55. Through its one-for-one donation program, the brand has donated more than 1 million emergency contraception units.

As Julie builds its retail network, it’s encountering retailers placing many products behind lucite barriers and requiring customers to track down store associates to remove them from those barriers prior to purchase. Especially for what’s called “shy buy” products such as contraception, the barriers are often a bridge to far for customers uncomfortable asking store associates for assistance. Fortunately for Julie, Morrison has observed EC on the shelf at Walgreens not behind pharmacy counters or lucite barriers. 

Morrison believes the future of women’s health retail will see consumers having the ability to grab what they need at a store without assistance. “We deserve just as good of an experience as someone buying anything else in the store. This will explode women’s health,” she says. “What if people weren’t ashamed to go buy the thing they wanted to buy?”