Abortion restriction laws are passing, driving many women to the internet to find alternatives to in-clinic abortions.
What these women find are crude websites of questionable legitimacy. They offer to mail them abortion pills without a prescription, one of the regulations required by the FDA.
Are these pills safe? Or legal?
These are the questions women wonder as they google ‘ cheap abortion pills online’.
As a quick overview, abortion pills, otherwise knows as RU-486, are the drugs Mifeprestone and Misoprostol. Taken in conjunction, they terminate a pregnancy that is no older than 10 weeks.
If you want to learn more about the basics of abortion pills and what they are, click here.
Is it Safe?
One of the biggest concerns with buying abortion medication online is that women do not receive a proper medical examination before taking the pills. There are many factors that could affect the effectiveness and safety of abortion pills. For example, women must not be further along in their pregnancy than 10 weeks from their last menstrual period. Other risk factors include health complications the woman may have such as a blood clotting disease. Women taking anticoagulants should not take abortion medication. Factors like this make buying abortion pills online extremely risky and potentially life-threatening.
Another concern with online abortion pills is that they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many of the pills come from foreign countries like India and may not contain the correct dosage. The FDA warns against buying these pills online since it’s neither safe nor legal.
In addition to not receiving a medical examination before taking the medication, many women are hesitant to seek out medical care if complications arise after taking the pills. They fear going to their doctor because they know that it was illegal to purchase them online
One woman who took abortion pills that she obtained online said that she was in extreme pain for days. But she was afraid to go to the doctor and get checked out since she wasn’t sure if she got the pills legally (NBC Left Field, 2019).
Is It Legal?
The legality of purchasing abortion pills online is complicated because it depends on each states’ laws and regulations. Most women who purchase these pills online are unsure whether or not purchasing them is legal. In most cases, it is illegal to buy the abortion medication online because it does not require a prescription and the pills are not dispensed by an authorized healthcare professional.
Who is selling abortion pills online?
Online groups such as womenonweb, aid access or abortionpill-online claim to provide safe access to abortion pills. However, the drugs they are mailing to women are not regulated, they are from foreign countries that lack regulation, and they often contain incorrect dosages that can cause complications for the health of the women.
Another college student who bought abortion pills online stated that she was hunched over the toilet for three to four hours. She said she bled excessively and when she woke up the next morning, her whole bed was covered in blood (NBC Left Field, 2019). Does that sound like healthcare? Women deserve better than shady, secretive abortions. If you or someone you know is experiencing an unexpected pregnancy, contact Woodbury Options for Women here.